Lucky 38
by Swekyde
Summary: Shot in the head, and left to die in a shallow grave,  Kagami makes a miraculous recovery and sets off on a journey to get revenge.  Based on Tastychainsaws's "Falling Stars" and a possible plot of Fallout New Vegas.  M for language and violence.
1. Ain't That a Kick in the Head

A/N: Given the 'recent' release of Fallout New Vegas, I've been enjoying it just as much as Fallout 3. I only finished the game once before I put it down for a bit to catch up with other games that had come out this season. Coming back, I remembered how my first character advanced through the plot. Then, the next day, I remembered reading through Tastychainsaws' _Falling Stars_. One of the key points of my play-through came to mind, where I decided on the Wild Card route because I didn't want to destroy the Brotherhood base for the other factions.

I imagined what it would be like for the Konata and Kagami from _Falling Stars_ to go through the New Vegas plot. This led to me imagining a short scene in which an NCR supporting Kagami would have a small breakdown when confronted with destroying another Brotherhood base. One thing led to another, and I decided that I'd try my hand at writing fiction for the first time with a New Vegas adaptation, using _Falling Stars _as my canon. I've only got two concerns coming in, and the first is knowing that since Tasty used almost all of the Lucky Star cast, I've got to figure out other ways to keep this fresh, but I need to do it without going too wild. The second is that since it's my first time writing fiction at all, I'm going to have to learn how to write characters, and learn fast, since Fallout New Vegas is quite dialog heavy in my experience.

All in all, I hope this turns out good (or at least, not terrible), and I encourage reviews about how I could make the story more original, or simply how to improve the writing itself.

EDIT: (2/7) Logical error fixed.

* * *

**A few miles south of Vegas...**

"I want to find some loot before we get to the next town," Konata said to her companion, "We _are_ going to need some more caps to spend when we finally get to hit the casinos in Vegas!"

"I'm not just a pack mule for carrying our things, Konata," Kagami replied. "Why do I have to carry everything anyway?"

"I'm off in search of rare items! See-you later, Kagamin!" Konata shouted as she ran off.

"And you're not even going to give me an explanation, are you? We're going to be separated because of this. Where are we supposed to meet up anyway?" Kagami wondered. _"Even if I do leave her behind, I know she can catch up. I hope she's going to be more responsible in the future, especially since she took this job that I'm being forced to do. And here I thought she was taking my advice for once,"_ she thought, as she fingered the chip they were supposed to deliver in her pocket. _"Then again, she probably only took on this courier contract because of the promise of easy money..."_

Little did she know, that chip was soon going to be everything but 'easy' money.

* * *

**Just outside a little town known as Goodsprings...**

"Where's this courier of yours?" one man muttered to another.

"Watch the road. Shouldn't be long now."

* * *

**That night...**

"_What the hell just happened..?"_ Kagami awoke in a daze, and tried to reach up to rub her eyes. _"What's happening now?"_ she thought in a panic, as she realized her hands were bound.

"Time to cash out," the man said, seemingly to everyone around her. He continued talking, but Kagami was far too preoccupied with trying to figure out how exactly she got into her current situation. She could hear him, but she wasn't listening. She snapped out of her dazed mentality when she saw the man reach into his checkered coat, and pull out a 9mm pistol.

_"Wait wait no!"_ Her eyes widened in fear, she knew what was about to happen.

"From where you're kneeling, it must seem like an 18-karat stroke of bad luck," the man spoke, as he examined his weapon and took aim at Kagami. "Truth is," the man continued, "the game was rigged from the start."

_"Konata..."_ she thought.

_BANG.

* * *

_

**Sometime later...**

Kagami awoke in a daze yet again. _"Where exactly am I?"_ she wondered. She struggled to get up, from where ever she was.

"You're awake. How about that."

Her vision was swimming, and her head was pounding. _"I'm still alive, right?"_ she asked herself. She wasn't quite sure why, but she didn't feel as hurt as she thought she should have after being shot in the head. _"Wait, shot in the head?"_ she mentally exclaimed, right before trying to leap out of the bed she was in.

"Whoa, easy there, you've been out cold for a couple of days. Why don't you just relax a second, get your bearings."

She couldn't help but agree to that idea, moving around too much when injured was never a good idea when it could be avoided, and she knew that.

"Let's see what the damage is," the man in front of her said. His voice was calming and reassuring, which was really helping prevent her from falling into a panic. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Kagami... Kagami Izumi..." she muttered. At the moment, just about everything hurt to do. She could barely keep her voice steady to even tell this man her name. At least there wasn't much pain when she was perfectly still.

"Good, at least you're still together enough for that," the man said under his breath. He looked back into her eyes, "Welcome to Goodsprings. I'm Doc Mitchell. Now I hope you don't mind, but I had to go rootin' around there in your noggin' to pull all the bits of lead out. I take pride in the skill I have at what I do, but you might want to check to make sure I got everything back where it was suppose to be." He reached down to his side and handed her a small mirror.

"I think this is all right," Kagami said cautiously, _"I'm not sure I could even remember what I'm supposed to look like right now anyway," _she finished in her head.

"Well, that's good," the doctor said, sounding more relieved than Kagami thought he should. "Either way, we should see if you can still move around good. I don't think you want to be kept in bed any longer anyway," he said as he reached to help Kagami from her position on the bed.

She took her first good look around. _"Looks close enough to a doctor's office,"_ she thought, _"If_ _being a doctor was a hobby you practiced in a spare room in your house,"_ she completed with a small grimace. _"I really hope he didn't do anything wrong to me..."_

She was interrupted from her train of thought when she realized the doctor was speaking to her. She gave him a look that asked him to repeat what he'd just said, because she was nowhere close to listening to him when he said it.

"I said, 'why don't you try walking over to that Vigor Tester over there, make sure you can still move fine'," he calmly repeated with a worried look on his face.

She slowly walked over to the machine. Everything seemed to be working fine in her body so far, the only problem right now was the headache that was beginning to fade. She grabbed hold of the sides of the machine; she was still worried about falling down at any minute.

"Give it a try," the doctor said to her, with just a hint of excitement in his voice, "It'll be a good way to see if everything else is in working order."

Again, Kagami was forced to agree to the doctor's suggestion. That reasoning, combined with a bit of apprehension and curiosity about what it would say, drove her to use the machine.

"Barrel Chested, Monocled Falcon, Hardy, Peevish Librarian, Smartypants, Catlike, Sickly Albatross", the results read.

"I'm really not quite sure what that means... is this thing trying to insult me? Because it almost sounds like it..."

"As long as that sounds vaguely like what you remember yourself to be, then it should be just fine," said the man looking at her as she studied the results.

A look of annoyance flashed over her face, but disappeared as quickly as it came when she realized Konata would be able to help her sort herself out. Her face changed to a mixture of anger and worry when she remembered about Konata. Anger that this was her fault in a way, but a greater concern about how Konata would have no idea what happened to her, and they had no real way of getting in touch.

"Eh?" she squeaked as she felt hands on her shoulders. She now noted that they were bare shoulders.

"I was going to give you a personality test, but I really wouldn't have anything to compare it to anyway. I don't have results from anyone else, and I don't know what you were like before all this," the doctor said as he guided her out of the room.

She felt her face heating up in a blush. She was unclothed, not completely like she'd feared, but being in her underwear in front of a man she hardly knew was quite embarrassing. It also had some less than fortunate implications.

"_He's a doctor, he wouldn't try anything like that, and people who become doctors aren't usually like that. They don't prey on innocent girls like me."_ She tried to think of other doctors she'd known. That pursuit was quickly abandoned when the first doctor that came to mind was Konata's father. _"Alright, he's an exception. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. I should just calm down, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why I'm not wearing the same clothes I put on myself."_

As if on cue, the doctor began to tell her, "When Victor found you; you had just about nothing on you. Just had what you're wearing now and this note." The doctor handed her a holotape. She took a quick glance at its contents, glad that not only was her Pip-Boy still with her, it was operational and she hadn't lost any knowledge about how to operate it.

The note was nothing more than another copy of the delivery job that Konata had accepted, to bring that platinum poker chip she had earlier to the New Vegas Strip.

"Stupid chip, it's probably the reason I'm in this mess now," she huffed, "What could possibly make that thing worth killing someone over without trying anything else first? I didn't really care that much about it, certainly not enough to give up my life for it."

"_More importantly, I'm really upset about losing everything else,"_ she thought disappointedly. _"I might never be able to replace Konata's Gauss Rifle, and I know I can't replace the memories that came with it..."_ she continued mulling with a frown. Though it would be a real pain, nothing else she was carrying was unique in any sense other than having been used by the pair, so nothing of irreplaceable value was lost.

She was once again separated from her train of thought by the doctor, who was now returning to her with a blue bundle of material.

"It's not much, but I can't bring myself to send you off on your own as you are," Doc Mitchell said as he handed her the bundle. It was a Vault 21 jumpsuit, which brought on a feeling of nostalgia that wasn't completely welcome to her, along with a pistol and some other basic supplies.

She turned back to the doctor after having dressed herself. "There are a few people I want you to talk to before you go and skip town, if that was what you were planning. I know I'd want to say a few choice words with someone if I was in your shoes."

Her brow furrowed and she nodded automatically, just realizing now that revenge was an option, and it was starting to seem like a pretty good one at that.

"I want you to speak to Victor and Sunny Smiles. Sunny should be in the saloon, which you should be able to find yourself. Victor, well, he'll be somewhere. You'll know him when you see him."

Kagami nodded. "Thank you for your help Doctor Mitchell," she said as she bowed slightly.

A warm grin appeared on Mitchell's face, "Don't mention it, it's what I'm here for."

As she made for the door, he called one last thing out to her.

"There are some other people you should speak with in town, but I trust you'll run into them soon enough."

She nodded once again, before opening the door to her renewed life.

* * *

A/N: At the end of _Falling Stars_, Konata and Kagami are geared REALLY well, and it just wouldn't make sense for them to storm through the plot using end game weapons. The whole being shot in the head scene is a good excuse for leaving them with nothing.

Other than that, it was mostly minor changes to the introduction. Going ahead, there's going to be order of event changes, and a few things will be left out for time's sake, and for the fact that I can use their existing 'wasteland experiences' to deal with things.


	2. Back in the Saddle

EDIT: 12/6 - A friend pointed out that I never specified what Konata was wearing. Her clothing is now 'specified' in her introduction.

* * *

She was blinded by the sudden brightness when she walked outside. It was high noon in the greater Las Vegas region, and rather hot outside along with the brightness of the sun in the sky. Kagami stumbled her way out of the doctor's home, still a little uneasy on her feet after being bed-ridden for so long.

When she made it to the street, she took a few looks around. Goodsprings looked a lot like a town out of an old western, with only a few modern and post-apocalyptic touches. In short, the whole town was a mess of deterioration, like most other small towns out in the wastes.

After looking around for a while, Kagami noticed a blue robot that of a make she'd never seen before. When it saw her staring, it approached her.

"Well howdy partner! Might I say you are looking fit as a fiddle!" the robot spoke in a cowboy-like drawl.

"Uh... hello?" Kagami cautiously replied, "You're Victor, right? You brought me back here?"

"Yes ma'am," Victor said, "I'm always ready to help out a stranger in need."

"How did you find me?"

"Last night I heard a bunch of men who looked like bad eggs raising a ruckus. After they ran off, I brought you back here to see if you were still alive and kickin', and it turns out you were," the robot drawled.

"Thank you very much for your help, Victor. Good-bye." Kagami bowed as she thanked the robot.

"No problem. Happy trails!"

She watched him as he rolled away, still curious about the model of robot. _"Never had any like that back in the Capitol Wastes," _she thought, _"Seemed a lot more friendly than the robots I'm used to."_

Spotting the saloon the doctor mentioned, she made off in its direction, passing by what appeared to be a general store. She decided to check back there later to see if they had any weapons or clothing she could buy.

Inside the Saloon, she saw no one. She took a seat, and a moment to relax. She desperately wanted to think the situation over, worried about what she was going to do to start replacing the gear she'd lost, what to do if she ever ran into the man who shot her, and what to say to Konata about all of this. If she could ever find Konata again.

She noticed a man and a woman walk into the room she was seated in. The two were discussing something about a man named Ringo.

"If you don't hand Ringo over today, then me and my boys are going to burn this whole town to the ground," the man threatened.

"We'll keep that in mind. Now if you aren't a paying customer, I'd prefer if you left. Right now," the woman replied in a tone dripping with annoyance. After the man left, the woman turned to Kagami.

"You must be the one that some people 'round here have been talking about, the one that old Doc Mitchell was treating. I'm Trudy, welcome to my saloon," the woman kindly greeted her.

"If it's not rude to ask, what were you talking about with that guy?" Kagami asked. In her opinion, it was a good idea to start making friends in a town like this.

"We've been pulled into some mess that we never wanted to be in. A while ago, some trader named Ringo showed up. Claimed he was the survivor of an attack, and had some bad men after him. He wanted somewhere to hide out," the woman explained. "I don't think anyone thought he was actually being followed, so we gave him somewhere to hide."

"Could you maybe tell me where he is?"

"There's an old gas station on the hill. He's been staying in there."

"What's the town going to do about that man and his threats?"

"That man is Cobb, and he's a member of the Powder Gangers," the woman told Kagami, "Some people in town would be willing to help Ringo out, like Sunny, but he hasn't asked for help."

_"Powder Gangers," _Kagami thought, _"They don't seem like the 'friend-making' kind of group."_

"Where's Sunny?" Kagami asked Trudy, "The Doctor told me to look for her here so I could talk to her."

"She just went out on a little errand, to get rid of the geckos that have been bothering people as they go to get water. If the Doc wanted you to talk to her, he probably wanted you to get some practice in with a gun after what happened."

Kagami nodded in agreement, some review would be a good idea before getting into a fight.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the men that shot me, would you?" Kagami asked the saloon owner.

"Not much, other than that they were a bunch of freeloaders who wanted a few free rounds. My guess is they were headed to the Strip. Heard them mention it before one of the jackasses broke my radio," the woman ranted.

Holding back her urge to tell her that she didn't care about how they were bad customers, she stole a quick glance at the radio that appeared to be undamaged. _"That's probably easy to fix," _she thought, _"I might be able to repair it so I can afford a weapon."_

"Want me to take a look at that radio?" Kagami offered.

"Sure would, a saloon just isn't the same without music. I can probably spare a few caps for you if you can fix it," the woman remarked.

Waiting for the woman to turn away, Kagami opened the case of the radio. Nothing was actually broken, only jostled out of place. _"Anyone with half a brain could fix this thing," _Kagami thought, _"I don't want to take advantage of her, but I need those caps."_

She spent a moment making sure everything was secured where it was supposed to be, before turning the radio on to test it. When the sounds of music carried out through the room, she turned back to Trudy.

"Thanks for fixing that for me," Trudy said with a grin, "Here's 50 caps for your trouble."

Kagami nodded to the woman in thanks before heading out to check on this Ringo fellow the saloon owner told her about.

* * *

She approached the gas station looking at the weapon she'd bought from the general store. The owner had told her that the weapon was a Recharger Rifle. She wasn't really sure how it worked, but it apparently charged itself for use. Laser and plasma weapons were always her area of expertise, but they were expensive and hard to maintain back in the Capitol Wastes. Despite costing her everything she had, it was still quite cheap.

Entering the gas station, she was immediately greeted with a gun pointed at her.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" the man asked, sounding on the verge of panic.

"I'm not looking for a fight," Kagami coolly replied, trying to get the man to calm down.

"If that's true, then I'm sorry about the rude introduction. You just surprised me when you barged in like that," the man apologized to her, "How about we start over. I'm Ringo, maybe you'd like to play a friendly game of Caravan?"

"Uh, no thanks. My name's Kagami, by the way. I heard you are on the run from what sounds like a gang," Kagami said, interested in hearing Ringo's side of the story.

"I'm not afraid of them," the man said, as if trying to convince himself rather than her, "I've got a better position if they try to attack anyway."

"What'd you do to get them so mad at you anyway?"

"My caravan was ambushed by a group of them. They just started shooting, so we started shooting back. I killed a few of them before I ran, so they probably want revenge."

"Maybe I could help you out?" Kagami offered. If the town's people supported Ringo, helping him out seemed like a good idea. She was never really the kind who went out looking for trouble, but helping others out was something she always tried to do.

The man was about to say something, but he stopped and took a good look at her.

"Maybe," he said, "If we had the town on board. Otherwise, the odds don't look too good."

"Any suggestions on who to talk to about getting support?"

"Try Sunny, she's been rather helpful to me so far."

Kagami nodded and left the gas station.

_"I need to find Sunny," _she thought, _"Hopefully she's back from that errand she was running."_

Heading back to the saloon, she saw two figures clad in Leather Armor walking down the road toward her with rifles on their backs. She immediately recognized the shorter one with blue hair.

"Konata?" Kagami asked loudly at the pair.

Konata snapped her head toward Kagami and in a sing-song voice asked her, "Did you miss me, Kagami?"

It took every bit of her existence to keep from shouting at the other girl in anger and instead walk toward her.

"Could you be serious for once? I was worried about you," Kagami huffed. "I was kind of expecting this to be the other way around," she muttered.

"I got all my worrying done on the first day I came here," Konata said in her ever cheery voice.

Kagami just stared blankly in her direction. "I... I don't even know what to say about that," she deadpanned.

"By the time I found out you'd gotten yourself into trouble, that doctor said you were already going to recover," Konata replied defensively.

"Gotten myself into trouble?" Kagami's voice was almost a yell, "This whole thing is your fault you know! If it weren't for that stupid job you took, this never would have happened!"

"Look on the bright side, Kagamin," Konata said, a sly grin appearing on her face, "We get to go on another adventure now!"

"That would be the typical you, refusing to take something like this seriously."

"I don't mean to interrupt your reunion," the woman at Konata's side spoke up, "But I don't think we've met. You must be the one that Victor found out at the graveyard."

"Yeah, that would be me. If you didn't catch it, I'm Kagami. Are you Sunny, by any chance?"

"Yep, that's me," Sunny replied.

"I was told I should talk to you," Kagami explained, "Doctor Mitchell wanted me to see you. Trudy said that it was probably about retraining with weapons after my injury."

"Meet me behind the saloon, we'll be sure to get some practice in," Sunny nodded as she replied, and headed off to the rear of the saloon.

The two girls watched her walk away before turning to each other.

"Did you actually manage to find anything on your little treasure hunt?" Kagami asked, sounding slightly upset at her.

"Eh, not really," Konata sheepishly answered, "I made a few caps though, but it really isn't much."

"Sorry about losing everything we had," Kagami mumbled as she turned away, "I know how important some of those things were to you."

Kagami blushed lightly, and almost leapt up in surprise when Konata hugged her. "Aw, you don't have to feel bad Kagami! I can find new loot, but I could never find a new you."

"Uh, yeah, whatever," the blushing girl replied in a hurry. "We should meet with Sunny so I can get some practice. I might need it more than we think," she informed the smaller girl as she worked her way out of her grasp.

The two walked to the back of the saloon to see Sunny leaning back against a fence in waiting.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Kagami said instinctively. Even though the world was a rough place and they hadn't kept Sunny waiting very long, it never killed to be polite.

"Alright, I know Konata's a great shot, and she said you were good too, but a bullet in the head might have changed that," Sunny stated, sounding as if she hardly believed that the girl in front of her had been shot less than a week earlier. "I want you to stand over here, and just try shooting some of those bottles off the fence."

Kagami glanced at Konata, who was almost trembling with excitement. _"Some things never change,"_ she thought as she took aim at the bottles.

She shot six of the nine bottles down in seven shots. Her beat up Recharger Rifle was to blame for the miss, but she was still afraid that she might not be able to get it working again if she took it apart to fix it.

"A real monocled falcon, aren't I?" Kagami said to herself.

"What was that?" Sunny turned to look at her when she spoke.

"Uh, nothing." Kagami dismissed quickly.

"You sure you completely recovered?" Konata asked in a tone that told Kagami she was looking for something to tease her about.

"Really, it's nothing. And I'm completely fine as far as I can tell," she replied in a hurry, not wanting to deal with any teasing at the moment.

Konata changed her focus between Kagami and the bottles a few times before saying, "I think you should try using VATS."

Kagami stopped herself before activating it. She slightly lowered her weapon, and asked, "Is that really a good idea?" Kagami thought for a second, "That system used a few implants, and if they were damaged, this could end poorly..." she trailed off, not wanting to think about what could happen.

"It's better to try it out now when you have help available instead of when we're fighting off bad guys," Konata pointed out.

Time almost came to a standstill for Kagami, and she opened fire on the remaining three bottles. To her audience, it looked like she shot them at almost the same time. Coming out of VATS, she was hit with a wave of dizziness.

Almost losing her balance, she groaned, "Was it always this draining?"

"Well, you didn't like using it as much as I did," Konata remarked, "So I don't think you got used to it like me."

Kagami sat down where she was standing. It wasn't that she couldn't stay on her feet; it was just that she was hit with an over-whelming desire to not be standing. She nodded from her spot on the ground as the dizzy spell began to fade away.

Still sitting, Kagami leaned back so she could look up at the woman next to her.

"There's another reason I was looking for you," Kagami started, "It's about Ringo."

"Oh, that would explain why you seemed so eager to get back into things. He's in a bit of trouble with the Powder Gangers, but he doesn't seem to want any help."

"Actually, he sent me to ask when I offered to help. He said I should try to get the town on my side for the fight."

Sunny nodded, "I'm in."

"Just like that?" the other girls asked simultaneously.

"Yeah, those Powder Gangers seem like they're going to be trouble to us eventually, might as well deal with them now. People like them aren't exactly the kind that'll hold up their end of a deal, so I don't trust them to leave us alone if we hand over Ringo."

"Four people still isn't that many, since we don't know how big their forces are going to be," Kagami commented.

"I'll try talking Trudy into getting some of the others in town to help out," Sunny offered.

"I could talk to Chet, and ask him if he'll lend us some supplies for the fight. On top of that, Kagami might be able to get some medical supplies from the doctor if we need them," Konata said excitedly.

"Have you two always done things like this?" Sunny looked at the two of them questioningly.

"Let's just say we've got quite a bit of experience dealing with 'unsavoury' groups," Kagami said, rising to her feet, "We should meet up at the gas station, the Powder Gangers are probably going to make their move soon."

* * *

"Any luck getting help?" Ringo asked as Kagami entered the gas station.

"Well, Sunny's on our side, and I talked Doctor Mitchell into helping us treat any injuries that might happen," Kagami said.

"That's great," Ringo replied. He was about to say something else when Kagami cut him off.

"We're just waiting on Sunny and my partner, Konata, to get back. Sunny was going to talk Trudy into getting some other people around town to help out, while Konata said she would try to get some supplies from the store."

Before Ringo could reply, Konata entered the room wearing a pout.

"I couldn't talk him into it," she whined, "Why wouldn't he help out the town? I bet he's just a no-fun coward."

Kagami rolled her eyes at the shorter girl's complaints, and assumed that the box of 5.56mm ammo in her hands was something that she bought with whatever caps she had. "Either way, we're just waiting on Sunny to meet us before we take our positions."

A few moments later, Sunny came in and announced that she was successful in rallying support.

* * *

"They're coming in from the southeast of town, about ten of them." Sunny informed the group as they exited the gas station.

The people helping from the town were set up to ambush the gang as they passed by the shops. As the Powder Gangers approached the saloon, the townspeople opened fire. It was less of a gunfight and more of a slaughter given how the men were equipped, but Konata and Kagami both managed to kill a few of the would-be bandits.

"That was a letdown," Konata said in a tone of disappointment. Kagami couldn't help but agree, though the group might have been a challenge without the help of the town.

Ringo spotted the pair and started in their direction.

"I know you didn't ask for payment, but it's the least I could do after you offered to help," said Ringo, as he handed the pair some caps. "It was Crimson Caravan funds, but I think you really deserved it. If you're looking for a real reward, you could head up to our HQ near New Vegas and ask around about it. Maybe we'll see each other again if you ever go there."

Ringo headed off out of town and the girls waved him farewell.

"Not too bad for your first day back in the game," Konata said with her signature grin, as she stooped down to take a cowboy hat off one of the bodies. Placing it on her head, she turned to Kagami and asked, "Where to now?"

"If we want to get to Vegas, we should head south to Primm," Kagami recalled what someone had said to her, "Apparently it isn't safe to go straight north from here."

"Why the sudden interest in New Vegas, Kagami? A while ago you didn't seem too eager to get there," Konata noted playfully.

"The men who shot me were apparently headed for Vegas," Kagami remarked, anger welling up in her as she remembered the man in the checker-print suit. Every time she pictured him, the idea of revenge became more and more appealing.

Konata's playful expression faded as she nodded, knowing full well why Kagami wanted to get on the road. She felt some anger towards the man too; he almost took her Kagamin from her.

"To Primm?"

"To Primm."


	3. My Kind of Town

Heading down the I-15, the two decided to go over their supplies.

"All I have now is this Recharger Rifle and the Vault jumpsuit that I'm wearing," Kagami stated.

"My treasure hunting wasn't very successful, but I do have a few things that might come in handy," Konata admitted. Signalling the taller girl to stop at the side of the road, Konata started displaying her inventory on the ground. Kagami's gaze quickly passed over the food items, since they were of little interest to her. She did note the rather large amount of soft drink bottles, and decided that she'd ask about that some other time.

"So what kind of weapons do we have, other than our rifles?" Kagami asked, referring to her Recharger Rifle and Konata's Varmint Rifle.

"Just these," Konata pointed at a 9mm Pistol, a .357 Magnum and a Switchblade. "You should take that pistol, Kagami; you never know when you might need another weapon."

Though she was never fond of ballistic handguns, even less so after she had been robbed, she knew that it was a bad plan to go around without a back-up plan.

"Check it out Kagami," Konata said though it sounded like she had her mouth full, "Ah'm a real cowboy now!"

Kagami looked over at her, with her cowboy hat on, revolver in hand and her knife clenched in her teeth. She shook her head at her partner's lack of focus, "When you're done screwing around you want to tell me what the rest of these things are here for?"

Konata looked over at the pile of 'things' Kagami was referring to. In the pile was a snow globe of the town of Goodsprings, a couple of cigarette butts, and a few caps on a string that were separated from the rest.

"Oh, that snow globe just screamed 'rare collectable' to me. I felt that there might be someone willing to pay some caps for it, so I took it," the treasure-hunter explained. "Those other caps are special."

"How," Kagami deadpanned.

"They've got stars on them!"

"That's it?"

"Apparently they're for some kind of treasure. Collect enough of them, and find some guy named Festus. If you can find him and you've got enough of them, he'll reward you with some secret treasure!" Konata couldn't hide the excitement in her voice as she spoke. "I found one in a hut, and another off of a bottle I opened. Some weird guy came up to me and told me the legend about those caps. I asked him if he collected them, and he said he didn't anymore. I got the other six from him when he collapsed under my well-trained bargaining skills!"

Kagami placed her hands on her hips as she thought up a response to Konata's story. "Did you pick his pocket, or did you guilt him into giving them to you?" she asked sarcastically.

"The puppy-dog look is not guilting!" Konata's voice was a mixture of faked annoyance and contained snickering, "It's a legitimate strategy!"

"Sure. Whatever," Kagami said with a roll of her eyes, settling them on the cigarette butts. "Why do you have those?" she continued, confused as to why her companion was carrying around common litter.

"I found those by your 'grave'," Konata remarked as she picked one up. "I'm not an expert on these things, but I know they aren't the same as the packs we've scavenged before. They're different."

Taking a closer look, Kagami noted that they were coloured differently, and appeared to be slightly bigger than others. She assumed they were handmade, given their appearance.

"Wait... you found those by my grave?"

"Yeah, they were near where you were shot. I thought that they might have been from the guy who attacked you. Maybe we could use them as proof that he was there?"

Kagami grinned. "Maybe," she said, happy that there was something other than her stranger than fiction account of what happened that night.

* * *

As they neared what they assumed to be Primm, they were approached by a man who looked like a soldier. "Don't go any further," he warned, "The town of Primm has been taken over by Powder Gangers. I advise you steer clear, unless it's urgent business."

"You're NCR right? Thanks for the warning, but I think we can handle ourselves," Konata simply stated.

"Your funeral," the soldier shrugged.

"If you're NCR, why don't you do something about it?" Kagami asked with a light hint of hostility. From what little she'd seen of the NCR, they were usually more bark than bite when it came to things like this.

The soldier grimaced, and looked as though he wouldn't answer the question. Under the stares of the two girls, he finally responded, "You'd want to talk to the lieutenant about that..."

The two girls walked past him, headed for the damaged bridge that separated the town down the middle. As they neared the bridge, they couldn't help but notice that they hadn't seen any other soldiers. _"No wonder they haven't tried anything, they don't have any manpower" _Kagami thought.

At the bridge, there was a barricade being monitored by a single soldier. He turned his head to look at the girls, giving them a quick, curious glance before looking back at the damaged overpass.

"How do you get up there?" Konata asked aloud.

Both Kagami and the soldier turned to look at her, and then looked up at the sniper perch she was pointing at.

"From the roof of that building," the soldier quietly said, looking back at the overpass already. "Should be some stairs inside to get onto the roof."

* * *

When the girls climbed to the top of the structure, they were given a nice overlook of the part of the town on the east side of the I-15. The buildings directly across from them were impossible to identify from their position, but Kagami could count two shacks, a casino, a hotel and a gas station apart from them. She turned to look at Konata on her left, who was already scanning the streets for Powder Gangers.

"See any?" she asked.

"There's one by the gas station, and two near the far house. There's got to be more than this though," Konata noted. "The one by the gas station should be close enough for you to get with your rifle," Konata continued, "I'll have to try to get the ones near the house."

Kagami drew her weapon and sighted her target. Lasers were fairly quiet, but they were easy to see. Standard bullets were the opposite. Once one of them shot, they were sure to be spotted.

"On the count of three," Konata whispered.

"1..."

"...2..."

"...3."

They both fired at the Powder Gangers in the streets below. Kagami wasn't sure where she hit him, but he went down and stayed down, so she was sure that she got him in the head. Konata had hit her first shot in her target's head, and quickly took a follow up shot at the man next to him. Kagami saw him fall to the ground, and tugged on Konata's arm.

"We've got to get down from here and across that bridge quick, before they get more people out there. If we don't, we're going to be stuck here until they fall back," Kagami told Konata as she led her toward the chokepoint that separated the NCR from the Powder Gangers.

As they ran for the gas station, a few bullets whizzed past them.

"Those came from the roof of that building on our right," Konata observed.

"We aren't in the best spot to fight back, do you want to try to run across the street and come up behind them, fight them from here, or go around the casino and see if there's a good spot there?" Kagami asked.

After a few seconds of thought, Konata decided that she wanted to come up behind them. From their position, there was no real cover from the fire the two men on the roof could rain down on them. The two broke from their position and ran across the street. As they crossed, Kagami shot her rifle in their direction without looking. She heard a cry of pain from the roof before they reached sidewalk on the same side of the street as their attackers.

"I hit one," Kagami said, sounding astonished, "I didn't think that would do anything!"

Konata drew her revolver as the two quickly walked up to the building. One of the men on the roof had figured out their plan, and he leaned out the rear door to try and fire at them. Konata quickly fired two shots at his chest as he tried to aim back at her.

"Nice shooting," Kagami said through her heavy breathing. It had been a while since she'd been in a real gunfight. She hated to admit it, but she'd gotten used to the rush that came with fighting for her life.

"He startled me," said an amused sounding Konata. "I hope that doesn't become the normal reaction," she giggled.

Checking the second floor of the building showed them nothing other than the body of the man Kagami had killed. Hit him in the eye, she did. She winced as she imagined what a laser to the eye might feel like, but quickly shook those thoughts away.

"Do we check the casino first, or the hotel?" Konata asked as she picked up the weapons of the two men they had just dealt with.

Kagami looked at the two buildings. Spotting the body of a man leaning against the hotel with a spatter of blood behind him, she answered. "Casino."

"Why?"

"That looks like a Powder Ganger who was shot trying to fight people in front of the casino," Kagami explained her reasoning, "And if they were fighting with someone other than the NCR, it was probably the people who lived here."

Konata nodded as the two left the store and carefully walked toward the Vikki & Vance Casino. If the townspeople were holed up in there, then the rest of the Powder Gangers were probably across the street in the Bison Hotel.

* * *

Inside the casino, they were greeted by an older man. "I don't know who you youngsters are, but you picked the wrong time to come to Primm. Whole place has gone to hell because of those Powder Gangers."

"Maybe we could help with that Powder Ganger problem," said a slightly nervous Kagami. While the man seemed nice enough, he was still holding a revolver in his right hand and kept looking over her shoulder at the doors.

"Are you and that other girl guns for hire?" the man asked sceptically.

"No, we're not exactly like that," Kagami said, lightly waving her hands to deny the assumption. "I was actually looking for someone, and I thought that maybe you could tell me if he's been here." When the man had referred to Konata as 'that other girl', she noticed her in the casino selling the rifles to a woman.

"Oh? Who are you looking for?"

"I don't know his name, but I've got some business with a man who wears a checkered suit."

"Oh, that fellow definitely passed through here a few days ago. I didn't pay him much attention, but the Deputy was apparently keeping tabs on him. Said he thought that the guy was suspicious lookin', and I had to agree with him."

"Where's the Deputy? Can I talk to him?" Kagami was very eager to keep on her attacker's trail, since he had a head start of a few days, and the longer she waited, the more likely people were to forget.

"He was taken hostage by the Gangers when they decided to hide out in the hotel across the street. Don't think they killed him yet, but it still won't be that easy to get him out of there."

Konata appeared at her side, having added another star cap to her collection from the rifle sales. "Well?" she asked, "Any luck?"

"Yeah, we're going to have to find someone in that hotel though, and the rest of the Powder Gangers are probably inside..."

"Sounds like fun."

"Everything is to you..."

* * *

The two were standing at the front doors to the Bison Hotel. The plan was to go inside, rescue the deputy, and leave as quickly and quietly as possible. They weren't here to flush the Powder Gangers out; that was going to be the NCR's job. Even with their limited numbers, having all of their enemies in a building with only one entrance would even the playing field.

"Alright, we're going to go in as stealthily as possible," Kagami whispered, "Hopefully there's no one guarding the door right now."

Konata nodded, and began to open the door as silently as possible. She was much better at sneaking around than Kagami, which was mostly the result of her smaller frame, so she was going to go in first.

Konata surveyed the room quickly. There was a desk with a computer on her right and desk barricade in front of her. Behind the barricade was a man sitting with a stick of dynamite and a cigarette. He was looking at the explosive in his hand as he idly toyed with it, and didn't see Konata as she entered the room.

"_This will be easy," _the hunter thought, as she stalked toward her prey. All she had to do was get up to that barricade, and then crouch her way behind the man.

When she'd positioned herself behind her target, she flicked out the knife she'd acquired while Kagami was still recovering from her emergency surgery. She cut the throat of the gang-member before he could realize that he'd heard her. Taking a second to admire her work, Konata waved Kagami in.

* * *

After Konata had entered the hotel, Kagami performed one last check of her equipment. Her rifle was showing obvious wear, and wouldn't hit a target a long range reliably anymore. The pistol seemed to be in good enough condition, except her ammunition for it was severely limited. She had never bothered to ask Konata about how her supply was doing; she simply assumed it was better than hers. Konata hadn't complained about running low on bullets, and the gunmen they killed were carrying weapons of the same caliber.

She wouldn't admit it to Konata, but she was eager to get started on their little task. She'd gotten too used to the adventures Konata usually dragged her into. Peeking through the door, she saw Konata silently kill the door-guard. When Konata waved to her, she quietly walked in.

"Now we just need to find where they're keeping him. Any ideas?" Kagami asked in a hushed tone.

Her shorter companion hummed thoughtfully. "Well, the best places would be a kitchen or a dining hall. Assuming they're keeping him on this floor. Which would make sense, because tall buildings and dynamite don't mix," she mused. "Chances are they're sleeping in the dining hall though, because that would be the only room big enough for a bunch of people on this floor. My guess is that our guy is in the kitchen."

If there was one thing that still amazed her about Konata, it was how good she was at thinking things like that out. As long as what she said made sense, it had a tendency to be true.

The pair started down the hallway, weapons in hand, with the kitchen as their destination. Konata spotted a service door at the end of it.

"That door should connect to the kitchen. It's probably locked, but I might be able to get it open. That would give us a good angle to sneak in and out without everyone noticing us," Konata muttered to Kagami.

They walked past a slightly ajar door without a second thought, unaware that there was someone hiding behind it. Shortly after they passed, he fell into step behind them. He gradually sped up to try to attack the pair from behind with his cleaver. Konata heard the extra set of footfalls behind them, and hissed a warning to the taller girl on left.

"Behind us!"

Kagami spun around and saw a flash of light from the knife. She instinctively blocked the vertical swing with the weapon in her hands. The cleaver was swung with enough force to dig a little ways into the weapon, rendering it useless. However, this now disarmed the would-be attacker. Konata quickly jumped on the opportunity to take him out with a few slashes and stabs from her own knife.

Kagami let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. "That was close," she said in a breathy whisper. She let out annoyed sigh, "That was also my only real weapon." She stooped to pry the cleaver from the gun. Knives were not something she was used to using in a fight, but it would have to do for now.

"We need to keep moving," Kagami reminded her partner, but it was mostly for herself.

* * *

The pair had arrived at the door. It was locked as expected, but the lock was easily picked by Konata. The dark and narrow halls behind the door did lead them to the kitchen. Expecting to find someone guarding their prisoner, Konata opened the kitchen service door slowly.

She was greeted with the sight of two people, one kneeling on the floor with their hands behind their back, and the other sitting on the counter, drinking a bottle of beer and reading a comic book. The captive on the ground turned to look at the service door. The guard noticed this and followed his gaze.

Konata hurriedly stuffed her knife into the guard's neck before he could try to alert the rest of the gang. Konata checked the body and found that little of his possessions would be of use, but she pocketed the comic book and took his 9mm Pistol in her hand.

Kagami made for the prisoner as soon as Konata had dealt with his guard. She crouched down to look at his face. "Stay quiet," Kagami warned, "We've got a few questions to ask before we try to sneak out of here."

The prisoner nodded after staring at the pair for a few seconds.

"I was told you would know about a man in a checkered suit passing through here a while ago,"

"Oh yeah, I was doing some... recon on him and his Khan escort. They looked like the kind of people you don't want hanging out in a small town like this."

"Did you hear anything about where they might be headed?" she pried. She'd certainly brightened up when she found that they might still have his trail.

"Now I'm finding it kind of hard to remember in this position. Maybe if you got me out of here I'd find it easier to recall..." the prisoner said in a smug tone.

Kagami almost screamed at the man. Her hands found his throat and she began to gently squeeze. "Listen, I don't have time for this shit. I need to know where that guy was headed. We didn't exactly kill all the people in here to get to you, and if you die I'm going to lose my only lead." She hissed in rage, as her grip tightened, "Now are you going to tell me what I want to know in return for an escort out of here or not?"

The man nodded violently, desperate to convince the girl to release his windpipe from her grasp.

"Everything I know is on a holotape in my pocket," he was gasping for air, a little panicked by what his rescuers had done, "Untie me and I'll give it to you."

Kagami rose to her feet and stepped back, signalling for Konata to cut the ties that were incapacitating him. As he staggered to his feet, rubbing his wrists where they were bound, Konata offered him the pistol she took from the guard.

"Try not to use it while we're in here," Konata whispered, "I don't think they know what's going on yet."

* * *

Leaving the hotel was easy, the gang inside had not noticed what was happening. As the group of three were walking across the street toward the Vikki & Vance, the deputy spoke up.

"Primm's going to need a new sheriff," he said, "Those convicts killed the old one when they attacked the town."

"You're the deputy aren't you? Doesn't that make you the new sheriff?" Kagami asked suspiciously.

"Well, yeah it should," the deputy replied, his voice slowly changing to a mumble, "I'm not exactly sheriff material though..."

Kagami was sure that if she wasn't so tired of his crap already, she'd have a shocked expression similar to the one Konata was wearing.

"Wait, I know what you're about to ask. You want us to find a replacement sheriff," Kagami sighed. This was really turning out to be a hassle.

"If you could..?" The deputy sounded hopeful.

"Maybe," Kagami said indifferently. _"I wouldn't get my hopes up though,"_ she finished in her mind.

Kagami was about to find the same old man that they first met when they entered the casino to ask about a replacement sheriff when she saw Konata looking at a Protectron that was patrolling the casino floor.

"You think we could reprogram this robot to be a sheriff?" Konata asked.

"If we had permission, I could try," Kagami admitted.

The same older fellow that welcomed them to the casino had overheard the idea. "If you could, then it shouldn't be much of a problem to have it as the sheriff."

"Hopefully it won't be too hard. Protectrons were originally meant for security purposes, so anything else it was programmed to do should be stored separately, and all I imagine I would need to do is figure out how to access its old coding," Kagami mused as she began looking over the Protectron.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, the Protectron was fit to be a sheriff. It thought it was the sheriff, and it acted like a sheriff. Couldn't tell it apart from the real thing, except for the appearance, and the voice.

"I've got to thank you girls for what you've done, but I really don't have much to pay you with," they were told as they left the casino.

"We'll be fine," Konata said happily, "We found everything we needed anyway."

The two began to walk toward the NCR barricade, when Kagami began sifting through the contents of the holotape. All it really told them was that her attacker was probably bound for Novac, likely taking the route through Nipton. It also mentioned a fact that seemed obvious to the two; the man looked like he was from the rich parts of New Vegas.

Before heading south for Nipton, the girls let the NCR trooper at the barricade know that now would be a good time to attack the Powder Gangers, even with their limited numbers. They were all cornered inside one building, and had lost about eight men that day.

* * *

"We'll have to go back there sometime," Konata idly remarked, hearing the first gunshots of the NCR raid on the hotel.

"Yeah, they seemed like nice people," Kagami added, as the pair began walking south on the I-15.

"I meant when they get that casino up and running again," Konata said, her eyes flashing with excitement. She wasn't sure why, but Konata had seemed almost obsessed with gambling lately.

"_She's always been lucky," _she thought, _"She's also always liked the idea of making money. Gambling, being a combination of the two, must be like a dream come true."_

The two conversed as they walked down the highway, about anything that came to mind. Their friends and family back east, and what they were going to do when they got to Vegas. Until Konata felt the need to express something she'd been thinking for a few minutes.

"I'm a little tired!" she announced loudly.

Kagami was about to tell her to deal with it, when she noticed that the sun was getting low in the western skies. Spotting a building a ways down the road, she pointed to it and told her companion, "We can try to make camp in that building for the night."

The building was a highway patrol station that seemed to be abandoned, with no traces of anyone being inside for a long time. Kagami gave the building a quick sweep to see if there was anything that the two might find useful.

Returning to the room the two had decided to sleep in; she spotted Konata's chain of star caps. _"That's quite a bit more than I expected," _she thought upon seeing the bundle. Settling in for the night, she took another look at it, _"She might just get that treasure after all."_


	4. They Went That a Way

As Konata and Kagami were about to reach Nipton, they noticed two people a ways off from the road. A man had a woman held at gunpoint. When the man looked at the two, the woman drew her lever-action rifle and fired at the man. Both girls noticed the woman look at them before bending down to take something from the man's neck. The woman looked at them once again and hesitated before walking toward them.

"Did you see that? That guy was robbing me at gunpoint!" the woman said loudly.

Konata and Kagami looked at each other, and wordlessly decided that Konata was going to do the talking. "What was it that you took from his neck?" Konata asked carefully, placing her right hand on her hip, just above her revolver.

"Oh, this?" she asked, pulling a chain of bottle caps from her pocket. Star caps, the two noticed. "It's a necklace I made from these special caps I found. Say, you wouldn't happen to have any like these, would you?" the woman asked, hints of greed showing through in her voice.

Konata leaned closer to get a better look at the chain. "None like the six you've got here," she stated, pretending to be curious about the caps.

"Oh, then I'll just be going then." Neither could miss the mix of relief and disappointment in her voice.

Kagami gave Konata an inquisitive look. Upon seeing the smug look on her face, Kagami looked back to the woman who was only a few feet from them.

"That necklace isn't yours," Konata said slyly.

The woman froze in her tracks. "How... what do you mean?"

"There are seven caps on it, not six. There's no way that necklace could be yours." Konata's smug look had changed to a prideful smile. Kagami was surprised at how smoothly Konata had played the woman, who was now trembling in panic.

They stole one more look at each other, and both placed their hands on the grips of their handguns. Kagami really didn't want this to end in bloodshed, but if the woman tried to attack them, she wouldn't think twice about firing on her.

"I guess you're just too smart for me," the woman said, sounding oddly calm as she turned around. Both girls caught on when she turned around to her left, trying to hide her right arm's movement to her repeater.

The two drew their handguns and fired a few rounds each, not giving her the chance to draw her weapon.

The two stared at the dead woman for a few seconds. Konata made for the body, and Kagami said to her, "I hope we eventually go a whole day without killing another person. Taking her stars, I assume?"

Konata nodded, "I also want her gun and whatever ammo she's got for it. Apparently these things use the same kind of bullets that my revolver does."

"What are you going to do with your other rifle? Give it to me?"

"If I have enough ammo for the new one, yeah I will. Oh hey, she had two more star caps."

Konata loaded a round experimentally into the weapon, and cocked it. It was noisy, and a bit cumbersome to do. "This will do."

She stood up and handed Kagami her Varmint Rifle, along with her remaining 5.56mm rounds.

"Shall we continue?" Kagami asked.

Konata made a noise of affirmation in reply, and the two kept walking toward Nipton. After about half of a minute spent looking ahead of them, she casually observed, "That looks like smoke."

"Where?" Kagami asked quietly, looking at her partner to see where she saw this smoke.

"Over there," she pointed, "Isn't that where Nipton is supposed to be?"

Kagami squinted; she could definitely see smoke now that Konata had pointed it out. "I hope nothing's happened."

* * *

Arriving at Nipton showed that something definitely had happened, something very bad.

"Those are Caesar's Legion flags," Konata mumbled, sounding slightly afraid. This was not comforting for the taller girl, her companion rarely showed fear unless it was something worthy of nightmares.

Kagami nodded, studying the design of the flag as she passed. These flags were too tattered for her to tell what the emblem on it was, but that wasn't very important to her at the moment. All she needed to know was that the flag was a deep red with a gold design. After making this observation, she heard Konata cringe.

"Oh man..." she muttered, her voice barely staying even.

Kagami took a good look around and instantly wished she hadn't. All around were dead bodies, or their remains. Some were burned, some decapitated, some were crucified, and some had their heads planted on spikes.

She clenched her eyes shut and began taking deep, slow breaths. She really didn't want to throw up, but she felt like she was going to. She felt her upper back being gently rubbed.

"Just take it easy," Konata said soothingly, "The other end of town isn't far."

Kagami gently brushed her hand away and steeled herself for the journey. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that, I guess I just can't get used to seeing things like this happen."

"It's not a problem," she said, still trying to soothe Kagami's nerves. The next thing out of her mouth really didn't help though, when she involuntarily said, "Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh' what?" Kagami followed her partner's stare down the street running perpendicular to the one they were on.

She could see several figures clad in red looking at them. _"There's no way those are prospectors," _she thought, using the local term for scavengers, _"Those are soldiers. Probably Legion soldiers, given the way they're dressed."_

Both girls felt a surge of panic when one beckoned them over.

"Oh no, what do we do?" Kagami was panicking, and ready to run for her life.

Sensing her desire to flee, Konata told her, "Don't run. They'd probably chase us, and they have dogs so hiding is probably out of the question." Konata started walking toward the man. If she was scared, she was doing an excellent job hiding it.

"I've never heard of the Legion attacking people without 'good reasons'," Konata said, "So I don't think they'll want to kill us unless we give them a reason."

Kagami nodded, doing her best not to show that she was at the edge of her rational mind. She did not want to be crucified, it looked horrible. It also sounded horrible, given that some of the victims still weren't quite dead yet.

The man began to close the distance between them, "Don't be afraid," the man said, in a cold voice, "Unless you are like the rest of these degenerates, it's good that you've passed by."

Kagami felt slightly comforted hearing that, if only for the fact that it meant they weren't guaranteed to be brutally murdered.

"I want you to move on from here, and tell everyone what you've seen," the man continued in his strangely calm voice, "Tell everyone the lesson that has been taught here, the lesson taught by the Legion. Especially any NCR supporters you come across."

"What 'lesson' did you teach here?" Konata managed to say after a moment.

"This town was wicked, corrupt. It served anyone of any need, as long as they were willing to pay. Troopers, Gangers, Legion men such as myself; it didn't matter, they would whore themselves out to anyone."

"_I still don't think anyone deserves this," _Kagami thought, eyes wandering once again, _"I've only met a few people who could even come close."_

After a short pause, a small smile appeared on the man's face. It wasn't a comforting smile; it was a smile of pride that would strike fear into most. "I think the sights will tell you more than I would ever be capable of. I encourage you to... enjoy your stay."

The man and his group made for the east exit of the town. As soon as they were out of sight, the two girls slouched, the taller one falling all the way to the ground.

"I thought for sure we were going to die," she said from her position on the ground, "Reasonable people don't do things like this."

Konata helped her to her feet. "At least we..." she trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"We didn't give the Legion a reason to want us dead?" Kagami finished.

Konata nodded slowly at that. These were horrible people, and the two had a bad habit of getting involved when people like that started doing things like this. For now though, the Legion didn't know that they were going to be enemies.

On the way out of town, Kagami spotted the body of a Legion soldier marked with laser burns. Quickly looking around resulted in her finding the body of what she assumed to be a Nipton resident, Laser Rifle still clutched in his dead hands. He didn't exactly need it anymore, so she took it. At least she'd have some use for it.

* * *

"Wow," Konata said, finally seeing Novac's signature dinosaur, "I thought they were lying to me when they said that was real."

"Huh." Kagami wasn't exactly sure what to think of the building as they approached it. "Do you know what they use it for?"

"They said it was a store, and that they use the mouth as a lookout point."

Kagami took another look at what little they had for barter. They'd found a few packs of cigarettes and a bit of alcohol and chems, along with some other things that they might be able to get a few caps for. She was far from fond of the former items, and would avoid them as much as possible, but that didn't stop them from being worth taking for sale.

The inside of the dinosaur did look like a small store, wares displayed on the shelves around a man behind a register. Kagami left Konata to handle the trading, she was always better at haggling than she was. Having looked at everything in the store, she turned her attention back to the pair working out a deal.

The counter between the two was cluttered with what was being sold to the other. Konata's purchases were limited to some ammo, two stimpaks, and what looked like a rifle scope. Relieved to see stimpaks being added to their extremely limited medical supplies, she hesitantly picked up the scope to examine it.

"For your Laser Rifle," the bartering girl quickly told her before turning back to the salesman.

She made a hum of thought, before deciding that it would be useful to her. Setting it back down on the counter, she looked at the salesman to see what it was that he was trying to sell Konata. It looked like a mini-rocket to her. She was about to tell Konata not to waste her caps on it, but she thought better of it. The scope was without a doubt where the majority of their caps were about to go, and some of the ammo was going to be hers.

"_I guess we could afford a few caps for recreation, if you could call it that," _she thought, still a little unhappy about the concept of spending caps on something that wouldn't have any use to them.

After the two had worked out the details of their transaction, Kagami handed her rifle to Konata so that she could mount the scope on it. After that, she took Konata's place in front of the shopkeeper.

"Would you be able to help me find someone who passed through here a little while ago? He was wearing a checkered suit."

"Oh, I saw a guy like that. Came into the shop, but he didn't buy anything. Real shame," the shopkeeper remembered.

"_What is with everyone thinking that I care that this guy was a bad customer?" _Kagami asked herself.

"You'd want to speak with Manny up in the mouth," he continued, pointing at the door to his right, "He would probably know more about him than I do."

She bowed as she expressed her thanks, and headed up the stairs to the mouth.

The man in the mouth of the dinosaur turned to her questioningly, but she cut him off before he had the chance to ask about her.

"Are you Manny?" when the man nodded, she continued, "Been told you would know where I could find a man in a checkered coat."

"Oh, I know the guy. What do you want with him?" he asked casually.

She paused to think. If the two were friendly, telling the truth might put her in a bad spot. Her first impression was that they wouldn't be friends, or he would have been with the guy when she was shot. She ended up deciding that honesty was the best policy.

"I want to get even," she admitted.

"No big surprise there. That guy's the type who doesn't make very many friends, if you know what I mean. The kind who doesn't care about anyone else." She didn't need to be told twice. She knew from personal experience.

"Well, I think I can help you, but I have a lot of problems on my plate," the man said, "You need my help, and I could really use yours." This wasn't the time or place for violent interrogation, so if he wanted some personal errand run, she was going to take her chances in assuming that her attacker had made for Vegas. She motioned for him to continue.

"I've come to like this place; I don't want to leave it behind. Problem is, we've got nothing but shit for trading," he admitted. She really hadn't seen any reason for this town to be populated other than the fact that it was on the 'safe route' to Vegas.

Manny continued, "If we run out junk for trading, then we'd all have to pick up and move on. Most of it came from this rocket testing site up the road. One day though, a pack of ghouls showed up and just took over. We can't even get in there now."

Seeing that this was for the sake of the town, and not just Manny, she felt compelled to help out. "What needs to be done?" she asked, curious about what might be found in that testing site.

"We just gotta get rid of them, or they're going to push us out. I don't care if you kill them all, or figure out some way to get them to leave, but we need that place cleared out."

Heading back down the stairs, she was greeted with a rifle almost stuffed into her chest. Taking the weapon from Konata, she told her "We've got a job to do before we follow his trail."

As the two left the dinosaur-shaped gift shop, Kagami quickly briefed Konata on what they were going to do and why. If the ghouls were feral, they would kill them without a second thought. If they weren't, which was more probable, they'd either reason with them or kill them anyway. If the ghouls were intentionally trying to harm the town they'd be dealt with using lasers and bullets. If they weren't they'd try to help them.

* * *

On their way into the facility, they passed an abandoned checkpoint. There were no bodies, but it looked like whoever was there had just up and left. The pair found a few explosives, some chems and a bit of ammunition.

Also on the way to the facility were a few feral ghouls. They were fragile, and went down with only a few bullets each. The corpses they made weren't the only dead ghouls though. There were others wearing robes, which both girls found odd.

Konata spotted a Stealth Boy on the ground near one of the ghouls. "He probably tried to get away from whatever killed them using this," she observed, pocketing the device for later use.

Opening the door, both were startled upon hearing the intercom turn on.

"Hey! You listening!" a gruff male voice shouted to them, "If you are, head to the big room in the east part of this building, and take the staircases all the way up."

"Uh, who are you?" Konata asked after exchanging a hesitant look with Kagami.

The voice answered, "It doesn't matter, smoothskin. Just get up here."

Though a bit rude, the voice didn't seem hostile, so the two replied, "Okay."

Looking down, they saw the body of what looked like a super mutant. It was blue, and had a chunk of concrete on some metal spikes as a crude club.

"_I would really not want to be hit by one of those," _she thought, before realizing that she was hearing footsteps coming in their direction.

"I'm pretty sure those won't be friendly," Konata explained as she grabbed Kagami's hand and began to lead her away.

Making for the stairs to the right of the entrance, Kagami grabbed a Laser Pistol and a few Energy Cells that were on another robed ghoul's body. The two tore through the halls, just trying to get away from whatever was on the first floor without it finding them. They arrived at the large room the intercom told them about, and wasted no time scrambling up the stairs.

When the two made it to the top of the stairs, they found another intercom. Panting, Kagami activated it. "Okay, we're here."

"I'm going to let you in. But remember that I'm watching you."

The two heard the door next to them unlock, and Konata reached for the knob.

* * *

A/N: While I feel like I'm just regurgitating a play-through of the game right now, I hope I can change that in a few chapters. The lead up to arriving in Vegas is something I've done pretty much the same way every time, and it leaves little room for expansion, but it fits the morality of the characters. Once I get to Vegas though, I hope I can be a little more free in what I do. I really can't wait for Ring-A-Ding-Ding to come up, since I've got some plans for that.


	5. Come Fly With Me

The two were confused, to say the least. On the other side of the door was a very clean and bright laboratory. That wasn't the source of their confusion though; they were both dumb-struck by the human standing in front of them, who was the owner of the voice they'd heard on the intercom.

He told the pair to follow him to meet with a ghoul named Jason Bright. Konata thought it was hilarious that his name was 'Bright' and that he was essentially a Glowing One that wasn't feral. His story was probably interesting, but Konata couldn't be brought to care. They just seemed like some crazy cult to her, wanting to go on some 'Great Voyage' or something. Apart from the cult stuff, they seemed nice enough, so she wasn't against helping them.

Their problem was rather simple. They were in the basement for worship, or whatever they did, and they were attacked by some Super Mutants. It was the description of the attacks that caught Konata's attention. The ghouls never really saw their attackers, other than shimmers where they should have been. That sounded like the effects of a Stealth Boy to her, and she'd heard stories about groups of mutants who used them.

Nightkin, they were called. The only real differences between them and the Super Mutants they had back home was that their skin was blue instead of green, and that they were downright obsessed with using Stealth Boys. Not much different to what they'd dealt with in the past, except they were nearly invisible. Towering, pain-resistant and invisible mutants.

It didn't take that much effort to convince Kagami that she should take this one for herself. This was something they weren't going to be able to fight their way through. She had faith in her own ability to sneak around, especially since she had a pair of Stealth Boys to help her out. If they had to kill the Nightkin, then that was a bridge that she was going to cross later.

Before she left for the basement, she was told that she needed to do two things. The first was to try to find a way to get rid of the Nightkin in the basement. None of the ghouls knew exactly how many were down there, just that there were enough that they couldn't deal with it themselves. The second thing she was told to do was to look for two ghouls that were separated from the rest of the group, that were probably still down here, dead or alive.

* * *

Stealth Boy in hand, she approached the door to the basement. It was quiet in there, which was good. It would make it easier to hear the lumbering footsteps of the mutants. Konata sidled along the wall on her right until she reached an open doorway. She could feel the mutant on the other side of the wall stamping toward the doorway she needed to go through.

She held her breath as she saw a shimmer in the doorway. _"Don't look at me... don't look at me..!"_

She let out a relived sigh when the mutant continued along the hallway. Falling into step behind it, she could see the hall fork in front of them. While the invisible-being she followed made right to continue on this level, Konata took the stairs down.

Konata was greeted by the sight of a few Nightkin corpses that had been shot in head several times each. _"If those ghouls are still alive, then one of them must be a pretty good shot," _she observed.

"You!" The booming voice almost made her jump out of her skin. That voice didn't sound human, or like a ghoul. She slowly turned her head to look down a hallway on her right. "You! Come here!"

The source of the voice was a Nightkin. Most Super Mutants were a lot taller than her, but this one looked almost twice her height. It also spoke to her, which was a real change from most mutants that tried to kill her before they said anything.

"Come here! Now!" She didn't want to make it angry if it wasn't already, and this constant yelling was going to give away her position eventually, so she complied and started down the hall. It didn't stop her from feeling like she was walking into death's open arms though.

"What is a human doing here, Antler?" the mutant asked, staring right at her. It referred to her as 'human', so who was this 'Antler'? "Here to help us? Humans can't be trusted Antler!"

She noticed the cow skull that mutant was patting on the desk. "We should kill human! Human won't help us!"

"Uh... wha-what exactly do you need help with?" she managed. She was close to terrified that she might help it find the reason to kill her that it was looking for.

"Trust human? Antler, you make no sense," the mutant rambled. Setting its hard gaze on her, it paused. "Stealth Boys. This note says big shipment sent here long ago. We looking for Stealth Boys," the mutant explained.

"Stealth Boys probably in warehouse. Ghoul in warehouse too. Ghoul not squishy like others, ghoul strong. Ghoul kill several of my brothers before we leave him there," the mutant continued. "You get ghoul out of there, we take Stealth Boys, we leave. Here is key to warehouse," the mutant explained, setting the key down on the small table he was standing near.

She cautiously walked up to the key and took it. Before she had the chance to turn around, she almost dropped it when the mutant spoke up again.

"My brothers. Not so understanding. Usually listen to me, sometimes don't. Brothers will try to kill. Probably will kill you," the mutant commented, "You look squishy."

Konata gulped. She really didn't feel like talking to it anymore. She was sure it was crazy, but at least it didn't try to eat her alive, so it wasn't that bad. It just told her that all the other mutants would probably try to eat her alive, which wasn't exactly reassuring.

She headed back to the pile of Nightkin corpses she found earlier. If the ghoul had killed any, it was probably the group she had found. She slid the key into the lock on the door that was on her right coming from the 'friendly' mutant. Just before it opened, she was overwhelmed with a bad feeling. She immediately pressed herself against the wall to the door's left.

A bullet slammed into the floor where she was standing not a moment ago. "Don't shoot," she quietly called. She wanted to make sure the ghoul heard her, but she didn't want to let all the other Nightkin know that she was wandering around down here.

After a brief silence, a raspy voice replied at a similar volume, "Are you human?"

She slowly let herself fill the door, looking around the upper floor of the room for the ghoul.

"Get in here," the raspy voice ordered. _"That was the plan all along," _she thought bitterly. This was going to be harder than she expected. "Did Jason send you?" the ghoul asked.

She nodded, slowly working her way to the center of the room. The ghoul was on the catwalks above her, and she could see traps set to get any Nightkin that tried to sneak past him. Not hearing a reply, she assumed that the ghoul was too busy watching the door to see her nod.

"Yeah, Jason sent me down here. Wanted me to get rid of the Nightkin, and see if you and the other ghoul that was with you were still alive."

"She... she split up with me. She panicked, and ran further down," the ghoul said, slightly upset. "She's probably dead by now, but she might still be alive. I'm not moving from this spot until I know for sure."

Letting out a small sigh, Konata knew exactly how this was supposed to work. She knew she'd have to sneak past all the Nightkin to find the ghoul, and then sneak past them again to tell this ghoul her results. After the ghoul left the warehouse, she could tell the Nightkin to get their Stealth Boys and get out of this rocket testing facility.

And that's when it occurred to her, _"What's a shipment of Stealth Boys doing in a place like this? It doesn't make any sense," _she thought. The note the mutant had showed her was an old shipment invoice, dated a few weeks before the first bombs fell. _"That would have given them enough time to send them off to wherever they were supposed to go..."_

She came up with a plan. As she turned to leave the room, she noticed a stack of crates that could be scaled to reach the second floor, where she could see a computer terminal. If that terminal had the warehouse's inventory on it, then it should tell her that there are no Stealth Boys to be found.

The problem came with the ghoul that she was trying to help. Humans and ghouls had a habit of not getting along well with the other, other than rare cases. If she forced her way up there, the ghoul might think she was trying to kill him instead. As she left the room, she pulled a Stealth Boy from her pocket, and left the door to the room open.

"Close the damn door!" the ghoul shouted at her. She pretended not to hear him. If it was closed, then she wouldn't be able to sneak into the room. Walking far enough out of the room that she couldn't be seen by the ghoul, she activated the Stealth Boy. It was heavily used already, but it should last her long enough to get her in and out of that warehouse.

Creeping up to the entrance, Konata realized that the ghoul might see her anyway. She was going to take her chances.

The ghoul didn't shoot at her, so he must not have seen her. _"Maybe these things are less effective on larger users,"_ she thought, adjusting her grip on the device. Avoiding the odd bear trap, she made her way to the crates she was going to climb up. Silently lifting herself from one crate to the next, she felt a smile form on her face. _"Why bother wasting time when you can kill every bird with the same stone."_

Sneaking up to the terminal, she noticed a glaring flaw in her plan. She was never that good at hacking computers; that was always Kagami's specialty. If she couldn't break into it quickly, then she would have a big problem on her hands. She gingerly turned the computer on.

Thankfully, it wasn't protected by a password. It opened straight up to a list of memos sent and received by someone who probably worked in this warehouse. The first was sent from this computer, asking about the Stealth Boys they received. The second was a memo about sexual harassment. That struck her as odd, until she realized what it implied. It was really hard not to burst out laughing as she read it.

The last note was sent from this computer, and it was the kind of thing she was looking for. It was an apology letter to the people who the Stealth Boys were intended for. Reading it, she found that all the Stealth Boys, except for five that had been used by employees here, were shipped away. Downloading the letter to her Pip Boy, she scampered off to tell the Nightkin that they had no more reason to be here.

Walking toward the 'friendly' mutant, she told him, "There's no Stealth Boys here."

"What? You lie! This note says so!" it screamed at her.

"I-I found a letter on a computer saying that they were sent away from here," she stuttered, pointing at the note displayed on her Pip Boy.

The mutant came at her, and picked her up. One hand held her by the back of her top; the other held her arm in front of his face so he could read the note. Looking down, she swung her legs to confirm her belief that she was being held several feet in the air. She looked at the mutant expectantly, trying to hide her fear.

"I... don't believe you. You lie," the mutant told her, but she wasn't afraid. It didn't sound like it was too sure of itself. It turned to look at the skull on the table. "You think so, Antler? Fine."

The mutant set her down. "Antler says you aren't lying. I tell my brothers now. We head for place in that note."

Watching the mutant leave, she sat down. Looking at her lap, she noted with humour and relief that she had managed to keep her bladder in check during the encounter. Giving the rest of the Nightkin time to leave, she decided that she was going to look for a bathroom before she headed back up to the labs.

* * *

Inside the labs, Kagami was sitting at a table, adjusting some settings on her Laser Rifle. She was stuck waiting on Konata to deal with the problem in the basement. While she was gone, she made herself busy by tuning her rifle, and by making conversation with anyone who would talk to her. She had spoken to a nice ghoul that had offered her the Leather Armour she was now wearing. She didn't want to seem greedy, but the ghoul insisted that they were the same size, and that Kagami would get more use out of it than her.

A short while later, the ghoul found Kagami again and gave her the makeshift bandana she was using to keep her bangs from her eyes while she was hunched over the table. From the blue colour and the number on it, she assumed it was from the old jumpsuit she had thrown away. Finishing with her rifle, she leaned back.

Feeling eyes looking at her, she turned her head to see Konata eyeing her new apparel. She turned her entire body to face her, so that the shorter girl could get a better look at her. Seeing the girl grin, and nod in approval, she stood up.

"So... what now?" Kagami asked her companion.

The shorter girl could only shrug in reply, "Talk to Jason I guess."

* * *

The two were told to meet up with the group of ghouls in the basement in a few moments, so they did. Finally stumbling upon Jason and the man that spoke to them over the intercom, they were told that they needed to help the group on one final task.

"What is it now?" Kagami groaned. It was great to help people, but they weren't getting paid for this, and they had more important things to do.

"You must speak with Chris, he'll inform you of the final steps to take before we embark on the Great Journey," Jason replied.

The pair turned to look Chris, the human with the raspy voice who seemed to think that he was a ghoul.

"Alright, we need two more things before we can launch those rockets," Chris began, "First; we need some new thrust controllers. Those parts are rare, so your best bet would probably be checking the scrap yard just north of Novac."

"I'd rather save that for last, so what else do we need to do?" Kagami asked the man.

"Second; we need some more Isotope-239. It's an igniting agent for the fuel, and all the stuff on the launch pad has decayed to the point where it just won't work."

"What's this stuff look like, anyway?" Konata inquired.

"It's a greenish liquid that gives off a faint glow."

Before Kagami even had the time to wonder where they were going to find some of this substance, Konata had already produced the liquid-filled souvenir rocket she'd bought in Novac. In the dim lighting of the room, Kagami could swear that it was emitting its own light.

"It wouldn't happen to be this greenish, glowing liquid, would it?" Konata gingerly asked.

Taking it from her hands, Chris took a close look at the miniature rocket. "This is the stuff," he admitted in his raspy voice. Her jaw dropped. That was too good to be a coincidence. "You'll need maybe five more of these things though," Chris continued.

The two decided that they would swing by Novac and pick up some more of those rockets from the gift shop. After that, they'd follow the road north to the scrap yard to try to track down some replacement thrust controllers.

* * *

Bargaining with the shopkeeper was easy for Konata. Kagami noted that she never told the man that they actually needed the things; just that she knew they were never going to sell. If the man knew they wanted them, and that he had the only supply in town, she was sure that he'd try to rip them off for a few caps instead of nearly giving them away. Not letting the seller know how much you want what you're buying was a tactic Konata told her to remember for the future.

Arriving at the scrap yard, they were presented with another bargaining problem. The woman who lived in the yard had found the parts they needed, but she knew how rare they were. She had tried to weasel the pair out of a fair sum of caps for them. She had wanted to sell them for an outlandish amount of caps. A light, hollow threat from Konata convinced the woman that they seriously needed the parts, but they could only pay so much for them.

Kagami was never good at the sort of battle that Konata and the old lady were locked in, she preferred real fighting. She tried to avoid violence when she could, but that didn't make her any less good at it. She ended up wandering into the scrap yard, looking for anything that would pique her interest. Scanning the areas near the entrance, she gathered up some odds and ends that she knew they could sell when they needed more caps for supplies.

Leaving the yard, she found how much the parts had cost them. She was far from happy about how much they had to pay, but it got them one step closer to finishing up in Novac.

* * *

After giving the components to Chris in at the testing facility, they were asked to observe the launch of the rockets. After listening to Jason's short speech to the other ghouls, the two headed up to the observation platform that they were told to go to.

Inside, they were greeted with two terminals. The one in front of them was the final switch they needed to hit to launch the rockets, and the one on their right was something. Kagami wasn't too sure what it was, so she decided to take a closer look.

"What'cha lookin' at, Kagami?" Konata asked, trying to peek around the taller girl to get a better look at the computer system that had Kagami's focus.

"I think this has something to do with the rockets," she said, slightly unsure of exactly what she was looking at.

"You mean like a flight-path?"

"Yeah... yeah I think so."

"Something wrong with it?"

"Not exactly, but these paths could be tweaked a bit to make them more accurate..."

A minute of typing later, Kagami stood up straight and looked out the window, "Ready?"

"Ready," Konata replied, "Can I push the button?"

It wasn't every day that you got to see a rocket launch, let alone be part of the reason they successfully launched, so Kagami nodded in response.

As Konata reached to pull the lever, one last thought went through Kagami's mind. _"I really hope I didn't screw this all up."_

The rocket launch was breath-taking. They'd never seen anything like it, and both knew that it was a once in a lifetime occasion.

"Wow."

"Whoa..."

After a few minutes of silence, Konata said aloud, "Ready to get back on the trail?"

With a sigh, Kagami replied, "Yeah, we should get going."

* * *

Back up in the dinosaur's mouth, Kagami spoke with Manny once again, "I've dealt with the ghouls."

"Really?" Manny sounded pleasantly surprised, "I knew it would be hard, but I had a real good feeling about you."

"So I held up my part of the deal, now it's your turn," Kagami said tiredly. It had been a long day.

"No problem, I'll let you in on what I know. Benny was headed for Boulder City along with a few members of my old gang, the Khans." Kagami nodded as she took in the information.

"How do I get to Boulder?"

"It's just a little ways north on Route 93 down there," he said, gesturing to the highway that was visible from the mouth of the dinosaur.

"Why were they headed up there?"

"Not sure; they didn't tell me."

Kagami started down the stairs, when she heard Manny behind her say, "You look tired. Go talk to Jeannie; she can probably give you a room for all your troubles."

Jeannie was happy to give the pair a room to stay in for the night. They were told to keep the key, since they were welcome back in Novac any time.

The room was small, but it had a bed large enough for two. Kagami could hear Konata talking to her, probably some lewd remarks about sharing a bed, but she was too exhausted to hear or care. She just wanted to get some sleep.

* * *

A/N: So Dead Money just came out today, and I finished downloading it before I reproofed and uploaded this chapter. I doubt I'm going to incorporate it into this story, but it will definitely convince me to pick up the pace on my writing. After all, my writing is the only thing that keeps me from playing New Vegas for hours on end when I pop it in to play my reference character. Sadly, said reference character is only level 9 right now (doing some side quests in Freeside for XP, reference material and caps), so I'm going to be stuck out of Dead Money for a while.


	6. Boulder City Showdown

When Kagami awoke, the sun was still below the horizon. Checking to see that she had actually slept through the whole night, she reviewed their current status. They were bound for Boulder City, where her attackers had headed to after Novac. Their weapons were limited to a Scoped Laser Rifle, a Laser Pistol and a 9mm Pistol for Kagami, whereas Konata had a Cowboy Repeater, a .357 Magnum and a Switchblade.

Kagami was still wearing the Leather Armor she had gotten from their trip to the REPCONN Test Site, along with the slightly worn Vault 21 Bandana that had been made for her. Konata still had her Leather Armor that she was wearing when they were first separated, along with the Cowboy Hat she had collected from the Powder Gangers they fought back in Goodsprings.

They'd seen better days, but they were still alright with what they had.

Sitting down on the couch in the room, Kagami opened a bottle of the soda that Konata had been hoarding. "Sunset Sarsaparilla," she muttered, reading the label on the bottle. Checking her cap, she was slightly surprised to see that she had come across another star cap for Konata's collection. Taking a swig of the drink, she found that it tasted quite good. It was very common and very cheap compared to Nuka Cola, so she didn't mind the change of pace.

Konata stirred on the bed and muttered incoherently. Kagami quietly called to her, "Wake up."

Konata only grumbled in reply, but Kagami could tell that she was trying to tell her no.

"Wake up," she repeated, slightly louder this time.

Konata's eyes lazily opened, and she looked at Kagami.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to get moving. We might be a day or two from Vegas if we keep this pace up."

Konata nodded, and fumbled to try to find something to eat.

* * *

Having eaten, the pair set off on the highway, headed north to Boulder City. The trek was uneventful, which came as a mild surprise to the girls. An advantage to traveling before the sun came up was that all the crazies who would try to kill you were asleep.

The pair arrived at a fork in the highway, where it met with another. They could continue in a vaguely north-western direction, toward Vegas, or they could head southeast toward Boulder City. Taking the north-western path would also lead them by a small camp that they could see from the junction. Knowing that they would be coming by soon enough, the duo took off to the southeast.

It wasn't long before they reached Boulder City, which didn't really live up to its name. The city barely looked like one anymore, with most of the buildings in it reduced to rubble. The entrance to the city had a large rock with some names written on it. Kagami assumed it was a memorial based on the fact that an NCR soldier had his head bowed in front of it.

Letting Konata ask the soldier about the story of Boulder City, Kagami sauntered over to a derelict shop. There were several skeletons strewn about on the sidewalk near it, and some more just inside the store. The upper floor was more of the same, except she found a few hats with some of the bodies. Closer inspection revealed that they were NCR Ranger Hats.

"_Must have been some sort of battle here," _she noted, digging a battered Service Rifle from the bodies. _"Looks like they were forced to make a last stand and it didn't end well."_

The rifle in her hands was probably the most abused gun she'd ever seen in her life. Kagami had hoped that Konata might be able to fix it up well enough for use, or at least well enough for them to sell.

Exiting the store, she could see Konata take a quick bow at the memorial, before looking for her. Vaguely gesturing at what appeared to be a barricade, the two regrouped at it. An NCR officer was quick to catch the pair approaching his barricade.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you in," the officer announced, "We're dealing with a delicate hostage situation."

"Hostages?" the girls asked.

"A few of my troops were ambushed by some Khans. Most escaped the attack uninjured, but two were captured by the Khans."

"Those Khans have something of mine," Kagami said. Konata could tell she was just pushing buttons, trying to find something that would give them an excuse to get in the city.

"That may be, and you can collect it from them after we resolve this hostage situation."

Her face twisting in annoyance, Kagami turned to Konata, signaling that it was her turn to try.

"Maybe we could go in and talk with them? Y'know, convince them to end this peacefully?" Konata tried.

The officer's eyes narrowed in thought. Khans wouldn't talk to anyone from the NCR who tried to negotiate because of the bad blood between the groups. Sending in a third party might just be what they needed. "Okay, I'll let you in. But we'll open fire if we hear gunshots. Remember that it will be too late for you then though."

"We can handle ourselves," Kagami said, in a slightly sour tone. It appeared that the NCR refused to believe that a 'civilian' was capable of not doing something stupid.

The officer offered one last piece of advice. The Khan they wanted to talk to went by the name Jessup.

Passing by the small squad of NCR soldiers aiming at a building halfway down the block, the girls headed for it. The Khans were probably inside; otherwise the soldiers wouldn't be monitoring it.

Knowing that some of the men inside probably saw her get 'killed', Kagami felt like she should make a dramatic entrance. She gave the door a kick that was hard enough to open it.

The Khans watching the door were surprised by the sudden entrance, and fumbled to ready their weapons. Kagami recognized the man on the right; he was there when she was shot. He dug her grave.

"Holy shit you're supposed to be dead!" he exclaimed. It was strangely pleasing for her to get that reaction of disbelief and underlying fear.

"I believe you have something of mine," she growled, entering the building the Khans had taken shelter in. Konata silently sidled in and remained against the wall near the door, content with watching the scene unfold.

"Oh... yeah... about that..." Jessup mumbled.

"Well?" she prodded, the aggressive tones still contributing to her menacing appearance.

"Benny screwed us," Jessup admitted, "Ditched us without paying us a damn cap."

"Headed for Vegas?" Kagami asked. It seemed that all roads were pointing to a trip to the Strip.

Jessup nodded. "No hard feelings between us, right?" the Khan asked uneasily.

Putting the man under an emotionless stare, Kagami decided on her answer. "No. All I want now is get even with Benny."

A forced smile appeared on the Khan's face when she said that. "When you meet 'im, do me a favour," the Khan spoke, offering a closed fist to her, "Shove this up his ass, will ya?"

Kagami curiously took the item from the Khan. It was a silver lighter with engravings all over it.

"Benny's lighter?" the blue haired girl asked both of them.

Jessup nodded. A short, awkward silence followed.

"How long could you hold up in here?" Konata asked the Khans.

Somewhat fazed by the seemingly random question, Jessup replied with, "I dunno, maybe until we starve."

"Would that be worth it?"

"What're you asking?"

The defensive reply gave Konata an opportunity to suggest freeing the hostages. "Well, the NCR's still outside. They could probably stay out there longer than you could stay in here," the short girl explained.

The look the Khan was giving told her to get to the point.

"What I'm trying to say is that if you let the hostages go, we can get you all out of here alive."

"I'm sure," the Khan replied, less than pleased with the small girl's attempts to persuade him.

"We talked to the officer out there, and it seemed like he was more concerned with getting his men out alive than dealing with you guys," Konata explained, her hands held up in response to Jessup's hostile attitude.

"You worked it out with them?"

She hummed and nodded in response.

"Why would I believe that?"

"Because they let us in here to talk to you?"

The reasoning was full of holes, but Jessup decided to take the offer. They were stuck here until one side attacked the other, and he wasn't eager to pass up a chance to get out unharmed.

The pair guided the two NCR soldiers that were held captive back toward the officer they had spoken to when they entered Boulder City.

"We got them to let the hostages go, now all you have to do is leave," Kagami told the officer.

Looking back at the building the Khans were in, the officer asked, "Why should I do that? I was sent out here to eliminate some of the Khans in the area."

Seeing Kagami struggle to come up with an immediate response, Konata offered one of her own. "Because the NCR isn't a bunch of lying snakes who stab people in the back once they get what they want? Or is that the image you want to create?"

Konata and the officer locked eyes. Konata was wearing a sly grin, whereas the officer had a slight grimace etched on his face. After staring at each other for a short time, the officer directed his gaze away. "I suppose you have a point," he grumbled.

On that note, the officer ordered his troops to leave the city so that the Khans could escape in peace.

* * *

The two ended up stopping at the camp they had spotted before they went to Boulder City. The place was called the 188 Stop 'n' Slop. It was an outpost for travelers on their way to Vegas, with very few permanent residents. There was a weapons trader, someone operating a diner and a representative of the Gun Runners. Kagami wasn't big on meeting people she would probably never see again, so she just sat down at a picnic table with one of Konata's sodas. Konata went around and talked to just about everyone though.

The only figure in town that really caught Kagami's eye was a woman who was wearing some sort of hooded coat and a Power Fist. Konata was chatting with her at the time, so Kagami slid along the bench so she could overhear their conversation.

The two were leaning close to each other and talking rather quietly, so she still couldn't hear. A quick glance at the pair, to make sure they didn't notice her trying to eavesdrop, revealed a sight Kagami had never seen in the wasteland before. Konata had teasingly flirted with some people before, since she always got a kick out of their reactions, but this woman seemed to be flirting back.

Kagami was running out of bench at this point, but she moved as close the edge as she could comfortably manage.

"So are you single?" she heard the hooded woman ask.

"If by that you mean 'do I still have long, lonely nights', then no," she heard her companion smirk. She felt her face heat up a little bit. Just because they were together didn't mean that everyone had to know about it.

"Aww... who's the lucky girl?" the woman asked slyly.

Kagami heard the woman speak again, "Oh wow, she's pretty cute."

Her face reddened some more and she turned to the two who were speaking about her. "I can hear you two, you know!" she complained.

Konata's eyes had an all-too-familiar glint in them, "Say, Kagamin," she started, "You wouldn't happen to be willing to try-"

"I know what you want to ask and the answer is no."

"But I'm sure she would-"

"No. We should get going."

"But-"

"We. Are. Leaving."

Konata groaned and muttered to the woman, "Maybe some other time."

The woman simply smirked and waved her good-bye.

* * *

The sun was almost setting by the time Kagami and Konata arrived to New Vegas, and the slums around it known as Freeside. It was a long walk, but generally uneventful.

That changed as they entered Freeside.

To their right was a group of armed people of different dress. "Hey ladies," one of them called out, "A few caps are all you need for a safe trip through Freeside."

"Eh..?" the girls replied.

"Freeside's a dangerous place, wouldn't wanna see ya get hurt."

Patting her magnum, Konata replied with a wink, "I think we'll be OK."

All of the guns-for-hire looked at her sceptically. The one who spoke to them first shrugged and muttered, "Your funeral..."

Kagami rolled her eyes as they walked past the mercenaries. Sure, they didn't look all that tough, but you didn't have to be able to win a fistfight to win a gunfight.

The place sure looked like a slum though, with people drunk and high on chems in alleys and on the sidewalks. Slowing down, Kagami took a quick check of her Laser Pistol's battery, pleased to see that it was almost fully charged.

Looking up, a man next to her called to her, "Hey baby, wanna go for a trip?"

She looked at him, and gave him a disgusted stare. "Get the fuck away from me," she grumbled. _"Wow this place is really seedy..." _ Because of the stranger's interruption, she'd fallen behind Konata by a short distance.

She heard her companion ahead of her, "Hey, look over there... that guy is waving at me."

"Hmm?" came her reply, as she looked in the direction Konata was facing. There was a man at the entrance of an alley trying to flag her down. Kagami noticed the Sledgehammer on his back

Before she had a chance to remind Konata that this wasn't the kind of town you wandered into alleys in, Konata said, "Come on, let's go."

Kagami remained where she was for a second, before jogging to catch up with Konata. She didn't want to leave her to deal with trouble alone, after all. And she knew that trouble was what they were going to find, when she saw the man flinch and adopt a slightly uncertain expression at her approach.

"_We're going to get jumped," _Kagami thought with a sigh, _"Hopefully there won't be too many of them for us to handle."_

The two were silently led into the alley. Kagami saw two figures out of the corner of her eye as they passed a door frame, and a boot sticking out from behind a dumpster ahead of them.

"_Three or four, depending on whether or not that boot has an owner," _Kagami counted.

The man that beckoned them into the alley was headed for the boot, and stopped just past it. He turned around to face the pair.

"Check it out... between these dumpsters..." he muttered.

When the girls got near, they could smell blood. _"Three then, I guess."_ When they got to the dumpster, a quick look revealed that the body was most likely dead, if the damage to the head was any indication.

Konata was the first to speak up. She asked the man, "Friend of yours?" Her voice made it clear to Kagami that she was ready for the fight that was about to ensue, but left the would-be bandit in the dark.

"No," the man said, a sick grin forming on his face, "It's the last idiot who followed me into this alley. Get 'em boys!"

Kagami pivoted on her foot so that she could face the entrance of the alley, ready to face the two attackers they passed on their way in.

Konata, on the other hand, simply drew her revolver and fired two shots into the man's face. His hammer was large and slow, so she decided that she wasn't going to give him a chance to use it on either of them.

The two men running at Kagami saw how quickly their leader went down, and lost confidence in their ambush. Kagami drew her Laser Pistol as she took note of their weapons. _"A Cleaver and some Brass Knuckles," _she noted, _"I should fire at Cleaver first because he could kill me a lot faster."_

A few bolts were fired in his direction, hitting him in the weapon arm. The shots didn't slow the man down, but the burning wounds caused him to stumble in pain and drop his weapon. Brass Knuckles closed on her and took a swing.

She threw herself onto her back to avoid getting hit. On her back, it suddenly didn't seem like a great idea anymore to dodge like that. She raised her pistol and aimed for his face. She fired her weapon twice, the first shot missing, and the second landing in his right eye.

Brass Knuckles screamed in pain. Kagami almost gagged when she saw thick, red fluid leaking from the hand he clasped over his right eye socket. Remembering her second attacker, she scanned the alley to see him picking his Cleaver from the ground.

Suddenly, he was greeted to the sight of the head of a Sledgehammer. Konata had taken the hammer from her attacker and gave Cleaver an uppercut-style swing. A loud crunch was heard as the hammer's head connected with his, sending him sprawling on his back. _"That probably killed him," _Kagami thought slightly slack-jawed.

Konata wobbled from her extension, but recovered without falling down. She shifted her focus to Brass Knuckles on the ground, writhing in pain. A second was spent contemplating his fate, before Konata brought the hammer over her head. It was probably best to put him out of his misery.

A loud, wet crunch ended his life, as his skull was cracked open by the hammer. Kagami winced at the sound, and avoided looking at the body. She did not want to see what that hammer had done to him.

After both took a moment to calm down, Konata reached to help Kagami up. She took her help, and stood up and stretched. Konata offered Kagami the bloody Sledgehammer, with the promise that she could use it to help her ability to intimidate muggers.

With a sarcastic thank-you, she noted that Konata had chosen to adopt the Brass Knuckles as her own.

"Let's go to a store or something," Kagami groaned, "I want to do something that doesn't involve killing people for at least a few hours."

They found a shop called Mick and Ralph's, run by no other than a man named Mick, and a man named Ralph. Ralph was in charge of general clothing, along with food and basic medicine and chems. The pair sold most of their cigarette and alcohol haul to earn enough caps to pay for meals and shelter, along with a bit extra for spending on their gear.

Mick, on the other hand, offered them a small stock of weapons and ammo to pick from. It was a disappointing selection for the only weapon store of its kind in Freeside, and Konata was a little suspicious.

"This can't be all you've got," Konata remarked. "You have to have some better stuff for sale."

"Well... are you with any of the casinos?" Mick asked.

"You mean the ones on the Strip? Nah, we just got into town today."

The man gave the pair a once over, "Really?"

"Yep," the pair replied.

"Alright then," the man said with a grin, as he led them to the rear corner of the store, "Tell me if you see something you like."

He pulled a lever and a segment of the wall opened up to display a small armory. Konata's eyes lit up, there was quite the selection. They brokered out a deal that left them significantly less rich. Konata replaced Kagami's 9mm Pistol with a Sawed-Off Shotgun for herself, and exchanged her Cowboy Repeater for massive repairs to the Service Rifle Kagami had found in the Boulder City ruins. They also sold the Sledgehammer that Kagami had brought into the store.

Their selection in lasers and plasma was lacking, but they bought the few Microfusion Cells Ralph had along with 12 Gauge Shells and 5mm Rounds that Konata needed for her new weapons. Ralph told them that they were best off visiting another place in Freeside called the Silver Rush if they wanted energy weapons instead of ballistic weapons.

Deciding to get a room to stay the night in, the pair stopped in to the only casino in Vegas off the Strip, the Atomic Wrangler. It was pretty sleazy in Kagami's opinion, but it sure beat sleeping on the streets with all the junkies.

* * *

A/N: Eh, kind of a rough ending there, but I felt that it was the best place to break this one off. Christmas has kind of kept me busy, so I'm a little behind my own personal schedule. No matter, I have something good planned for next chapter...


	7. Ring a Ding Ding

A/N: You almost have to try to be as lazy as I was. I had some excuses, which would have been valid if they took up more time than they did. Holidays had me busy with family activities for a few days, and so did my English final. That doesn't really explain why this took like 3 weeks to finish up. In reality, I worked on this just about as long as I did any of the other chapters so far, it's just that I spent a lot of time between sessions working on it. I couldn't get in the mood to work on it, and then it sat finished for several days when I just couldn't bring myself to upload it and give it a final proofing. Not to mention that I like to start on the next chapter before uploading the previous, and I really had a rough time starting it. New Vegas hasn't been appealing for a while, but I don't want to leave this incomplete... maybe I just need to do what always got me in the mood for Fallout 3. Start reading Falling Stars again. That always gets me in the mood (and I've done it like four or five times...).

Whatever. In case anyone wonders, I will sometimes spell words incorrectly or use bad grammar intentionally during dialog, because it's direct quotations of what's being said (it also can help create an impression of their tone, y'know). Also 'favourite' will never be 'favorite', but 'colour' can sometimes be 'color', depending on how much those little red lines bother me on that particular day.

* * *

The next morning, the pair tried to gain access to the Strip. Their attempted entry was stopped short when they reached the barricade.

"Stop. Please present a valid passport or submit to a credit check," a robot at the gate demanded.

Kagami noted that the robot was very similar to Victor, who had apparently saved her a few days prior.

"Credit check?" Kagami asked.

"Persons who desire access to the Strip need a minimum balance of two thousand caps."

"For both of us, or would having two thousand between the two of us be alright?"

"State your relations with each other."

Konata snickered, and looked to Kagami. She was a little uneasy about answering the question.

"We're uh... we're in a relationship."

"Clarify." She started to blush lightly.

Konata latched on to her partner and whispered into her ear, "Now's not the time to be getting cold feet, Kagamin~" she cooed.

"Approved. Credit will be shared between the two parties. Will you submit to the check?"

"Well... we don't have enough caps right now..." Kagami explained.

"We'll be back later though!" Konata promised the robot, detaching herself from Kagami.

Walking away from the checkpoint, Kagami wondered aloud, "Where are we going to be getting this money from?"

"Well," her shorter companion replied, "I might be able to find something to do for the casino we stayed in. You could try going to that energy weapon store just down the street from it and see if they've got any paying work."

"Alright, we'll meet back here when we finish."

Konata nodded, and they headed for their destinations.

* * *

Konata had some simple work, in her eyes at least. A few people around town had debts to the owners of the Atomic Wrangler, and she was sent to go collect on them. She was also told to look for new 'escorts' for their business, with a cowboy ghoul, a suave man and a sex robot being her priorities. Under advice from her temporary boss, she requested Ralph to make her a program for the bot in the event she found one in the old store they both recommended.

She collected caps from one of her hits with ease, she had the money and they both knew it. Konata called her on her lies and she folded faster than a bad poker hand. Her second target found her.

"Hey Missy, would you be able to spare a few caps?" a rough voice asked as she walked past.

Looking at the ghoul, she tried to remember if he was one of the people she was looking for. She'd taken care of the woman whose name she'd since forgotten, and she was looking for the man named Santiago. She was sure that there was a male ghoul on the list, but didn't remember his name. She tried her luck.

"Trying to gather the caps to pay your debt at the Atomic Wrangler?" she asked slyly.

"Ha... how did you know? Wait, did they send you to collect on me?" the ghoul sounded slightly panicked, "Here, I got the money; just don't hurt me, alright?"

"_Well that was easy,"_ she thought. Next and last was Santiago. She was warned that he was a smooth talker, but that he was also a coward.

Finding Santiago on a bench, she approached him.

"Good morning, beautiful lady. What brings you to Santiago on this fine day?" the man asked in his suave voice.

"You owe money to the Atomic Wrangler, and I'm here to get it," she explained simply. She wasn't doing this work because she liked taking money from people, nor was it because she liked being mean to people she didn't know. It was all business to her.

"Santiago owes nothing to anyone," the man replied, his demeanor not faltering in the slightest, "Santiago is a VIP in Freeside."

She was a little short on patience and time; she had a lot to do today. She slipped on the Brass Knuckles and brandished a fist at the man. "Santiago is about to lose some teeth if he doesn't pay up," she said plainly.

As he handed over the caps, she considered the possibility of picking him up as an escort for the Wrangler. He could probably manage the suave man role that they were looking to fill.

"What would you say if I asked if you wanted to work for the Atomic Wrangler?"

"Santiago would be honored," he replied, completely unfazed by the fact she threatened to beat him up just a moment ago.

"Well then, go tell them that you're interested."

That took care of the debts, and knocked one of the three escorts down.

* * *

She found and hired someone who fit the ghoul cowboy role. She just hoped that cowgirls were okay too, because the ghoul wasn't a man. _"Those were some kinky stories she had... I wonder if I can try any of those things out with Kagami eventually..."_

Swinging by Mick and Ralph's, she picked up the programming for the sex bot from Ralph. He told her to come back with his results. Snickering at that, he clarified that he wanted to know if the reprogramming worked at all, not whether or not the robot gave good sex.

The old building she was pointed to was some kind of tech repair building in her eyes. There was a lot of scrap metal and destroyed Protectrons inside. Finding a working Protectron in its dock, she set to work on the terminal next to it. Computer work wasn't usually her thing, but she knew enough to manage the task of uploading the new program.

While the program was being installed, she picked a Star Cap off the terminal she was using. _"My lucky day," _she thought.

Suddenly, the dock opened and the robot stepped out. "Fully Integrated Security Technetronic Officer reporting for duty," the robot stated.

"Uh, let's just shorten that to Fisto..."

"Yes ma'am. Fisto, ready for service," it said. Konata was a little disappointed, it seemed like the program didn't work, when all of a sudden it said, "Please assume the position."

Her breath caught in her throat and a blush plastered itself all over her face. "I... I suppose... I should probably test it before I turn it in..." she muttered breathily.

* * *

Konata walked slightly awkwardly up to Ralph in his store, looking very flustered.

"It worked. It worked really good..." she said, leaving before he could reply.

* * *

Kagami's venture was significantly less interesting. She spent several hours being a door guard for the Silver Rush. It was easy, if not boring. Send off anyone who looked like they were poor or a junkie, and strip any potential customers of their weapons before letting them in. Nothing she couldn't handle.

She sent off a drunkard, and some man who refused to submit to a search. Someone tried to attack her when she tried to search them, but he was turned to a pile of goo by a shot from the other guard's Plasma Rifle.

She took her payment and left, thankful for the funding. They payed her to work the day, she didn't care about their problems or who they were, just that she made progress on her journey.

* * *

Konata and Kagami regrouped at the checkpoint to the Strip, their earnings pushing them over the minimum balance for a visitor to the Strip. They were allowed through the checkpoint without any issues, and let on to the Strip.

Even in midday, the sights and sounds were still quite overwhelming. Compared to the dingy and destroyed Freeside, the Strip was clean and colorful. To their right, was an off-duty NCR soldier vomiting on the sidewalk.

"Wow I really did not need to see that," Kagami deadpanned. Konata tapped her arm, and she shifted her eyes forward to see one of the many robots guarding the Strip approach them.

"Victor? Is that you?" Kagami asked, slightly confused at how the robot that had saved her in Goodsprings had ended up in Vegas.

"Sure is," the robot drawled. "Say partner, you should head up to the Lucky 38. Mr. House, the head honcho 'round these parts, is itching to make acquaintance with you."

"Why's a robot passing on his invitation?" Konata asked, "If it's so important, why doesn't he come out and meet us?"

"Well now, Mr. House made us Securitrons into what we are now. Seemed like the least I could do to pass on the message."

Kagami took a quick glance at the other robots on the Strip. If this Mr. House was as important as they said, and he made or programmed the robots, then it would be possible for Victor to be a program on a server rather than limited to a specific terminal. _"That would explain how Victor got to Vegas in the first place. I'm sure that it's not exactly safe to send a single robot rolling through the desert," _she thought.

"Alright then, take us in," Kagami decided.

As they walked up to the door, Victor stopped. Noticing this, the two girls also stopped.

"I'm sorry miss, but your friend here is going to have to wait outside..." Victor noted.

Kagami looked at the door, then Konata. "She can't go in? Then neither can I," she said simply, crossing her arms to punctuate her point.

A stare down with a robot usually didn't achieve anything, because robots didn't have petty human features like resolve or feelings, but she wanted to try her luck anyway. If Mr. House controlled the Securitrons , then she could probably communicate with him through Victor.

"Well alright then, go on in you two," the robot said.

Walking into the Lucky 38 felt like walking into a time capsule. She was certain the interior had not seen visitors in an incredibly long time, given the stuffy 'old' smell the place carried. It wasn't overwhelming or bad, but it let you know that it hadn't seen human beings in a very, very long time.

Looking around, she felt slightly insecure with the dark casino floor surrounding her. It felt very posh in comparison the rest of Vegas, and was mountains higher than any other place she had ever visited. She felt almost as though she didn't belong.

When she stopped admiring her surroundings, she noticed that Konata wasn't by her side anymore. Konata had a nasty habit of getting slightly distracted and it bothered her when in kept them from important matters.

She found Konata a few tables away from her on the casino floor. "Hey," she called out in a hiss, "What are you doing? Get over here, we're in a hurry."

Jogging back to Kagami's side, Konata held out a small rounded object. "Look what I found, it's another Snow Globe," she whispered excitedly. "Maybe there's a set of them, and they can still be found out there?"

"First, you didn't 'find' anything. When you 'find' an object in someone's home and take it without their permission it's called 'stealing'. Second, why would it even matter?"

Kagami saw her companion shrug before she turned to the large pillar at the center of the building. Victor was already in position next to it, so she assumed that it was an elevator to take them to the top of the building.

The room the elevator brought them into was significantly more 'used' smelling than the entryway. There were Securitrons everywhere, so that was the most likely reason the room didn't share the same abandoned smell as the lobby below.

The two approached a Securitron that bore a woman's face. _"Weird," _Kagami thought, _"I would have thought that Victor was the only one that didn't have that generic policeman face."_

"So what can you tell us about House that we don't already know?" Konata immediately asked. "I mean, besides all this 'he made Vegas and the Securitrons to what they are now' junk." Ready to berate her for being so rude in his home, Kagami was cut off by the robot.

"That you don't know?" the robot drawled. "Well, Mr. House has a soft spot for Snow Globes. I'm sure he's the biggest collector of vintage Snow Globes around!"

"Oh, is that so," Konata commented, casting a sideways glance at Kagami.

"As a matter of fact, I've been told to give a reward to anyone who comes across one to add to his collection! Especially the one that got lost here in the casino during the regular cleaning."

Taking out the two Snow Globes in her possession, she asked the robot, "Would these be the kind he's looking for?"

"Why yes, sugar, they are! I can give you four thousand caps for them."

Kagami's jaw hit the floor. "What."

Accepting the caps, the only thing keeping Konata from laughing was her own surprise. It felt good to show Kagami up, but this was something else. Four thousand covered about how much they had spent the other day, and then some.

"Well go on now, Mr. House wants to speak to you," the female robot said.

The girls nodded and headed into the next room. The sight was slightly shocking to Konata, but it was nothing new for Kagami when they approached a large computer screen with a man's face on it.

Before Konata had the chance to ask any stupid questions and embarrass the two, Kagami started the conversation, "I believe we should just get down to business and not waste anyone's time."

"My, that's refreshing. It's nice to know that there are still people out there who can understand when it is appropriate to be professional."

Kagami cast a quick glance in Konata's direction, but the shorter girl already realized that she was better off staying silent for now.

"That chip is of extraordinary value to me, and I need it to be recovered."

"Will this change the existing contract?"

"Yes, I'll double the payment for the recovery of the chip, and once again if you remove Benny from his management position at the Tops."

"A thousand caps then?" Konata asked quietly.

"Yes, a thousand caps."

"When you say 'remove from his position', do you mean you want him dead?" Kagami asked uneasily.

"I understand that you have some unsettled business with him, given that he attacked you. If you decide that that is the best course of action, so be it. If, for some reason, you would rather a diplomatic approach, I'm sure you could convince his second in command to help you out. You'll want to look for a man named Swank."

"Why can't you send in your robots?" Konata inquired.

"As part of my agreement with the groups running the casinos, my Securitrons are only allowed inside under special circumstances, most of which require explicit permission of the group."

"Okay, I think I'm ready to get the chip," Kagami announced after a short pause.

Before the two could leave the room, House spoke up once again. "I understand that you have come quite a ways, literally and figuratively. If you wish to take a short rest, you can ask Victor to take you to the Cocktail Lounge and spend a few moments in peace there."

* * *

The two had taken Mr. House up on his offer, and stopped by the Cocktail Lounge. Kagami sat herself down at one of the many tables in the lounge. Letting out a relaxed sigh, she closed her eyes. Hearing some noise from the bar, she opened them again to see Konata with a bottle of Sunset Sarsaparilla and a bottle of Whiskey.

"What're you doing..?" she quietly asked.

"A drink to celebrate," Konata replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She adjusted her posture in the chair, "Well... alright. One or two, but no more than that..."

Two drinks later, the girls were on the Strip again. Kagami herself wasn't drunk, far from it. She felt a little out of it though, but physically she was just fine. She wasn't sure about Konata, the smaller girl seemed to be unaffected by the alcohol she had earlier.

Walking into the Tops, the two were stripped of their weapons. It was apparently common practice on the Strip to not let armed patrons into casinos, not that it was a mystery as to why.

Kagami looked at the men behind the counter at the entrance. "Would either of you be able to point me in the direction of a man named Swank?"

One of the men looked at her curiously. "You're speaking to him, baby. What can I do for ya?"

Smiling, Kagami continued, "I need to talk to you about Benny."

"If this is about the big boss, why aren't ya talking to him about it instead of me?"

"Well... I don't think you're going to like what I'm going to tell you..."

The man narrowed his eyes at her. "What's this about?" he demanded.

"Well you see, he tried to kill me so that he could steal a chip I was supposed to deliver."

"Whoa, that's a tall accusation right there. Ya got any proof to back that up?"

"Well, these cigarette butts," she gestured for Konata to place them on the counter between them, "These were found at my 'grave'."

"Those are Benny's brand alright, but that isn't enough on its own..."

"Would his lighter be enough? Because I've got that too," she said, setting it down near the butts.

"He never lets that thing leave him..." Swank muttered, "Alright... I believe you. I'll give you back your weapons and tell the others not to stop you if you attack him."

"Just give all my weapons to her," Kagami said, pointing at Konata, "I want to try to solve this peacefully. If it's possible, could you send him up to his room alone?"

Slightly shocked, Swank replied "Uh... yeah, sure. I can do that. You'll want to take the elevators down there," he pointed down the hall to his right. "Go to the thirteenth floor, you'll know his room when you see it." The disbelief in his voice wasn't unexpected to the pair, the situation was really strange when you looked at it. How often would you be approached and told that someone you knw had tried to murder someone else, and that they would like to try to talk it out with them instead?

"Thanks Swank."

* * *

Exiting the elevator, Konata asked her partner, "What's the plan then?"

"Okay, I want you to hide somewhere. Finding a good spot is for you to figure out. I'm going to go in there and talk things over with him. If you hear gunfire, I want you to come in."

"But won't that be too late?"

"I hope not."

"Don't do anything stupid," the shorter girl grumbled.

"I'll try not to," Kagami replied with a smile. It wasn't often, but sometimes their roles reversed. It wasn't like she enjoyed making Konata worry about her, but she liked knowing that worrying about the well-being of the other wasn't a one-sided affair.

Immediately inside of the apartment was a bar. She decided to lean against the wall opposite it until Benny arrived. A few short moments later, the man of the hour arrived, shutting the door behind him.

"Good afternoon," she said coolly.

Benny jumped slightly and looked at her. He did a double-take and nearly screamed, "Holy shit you should be dead! I saw you die!"

She resisted the urge to say something cheeky and intimidating like 'I dug out of my grave to put you in yours'. Instead, she replied with, "You have something of mine, and I want it back."

Still looking slightly unsettled, Benny moved a hand protectively to his right pocket. He swallowed, then quietly said, "We really have a problem here, don't we, babe?"

Her impassive gaze changed to a glare as she pushed herself off the wall. "No beating around the bush, Benny. I want the chip back. I didn't come here to kill you; I'm unarmed. I just want to solve our problem."

Sidling around the room toward a desk, Benny took a look at her bandanna. "Say babe, you know how they solved problems in Vault 21?"

She shook her head in response. She could guess though, given its location on the Strip and its number. What she couldn't guess, was why he felt the need to ask her.

"They let Lady Luck be judge, jury and executioner. They settled their scuffles through games of chance. Games like blackjack, and roulette." Benny reached into the drawer of the desk and pulled out a .44 Magnum.

Her eyes were drawn to the revolver. She had a feeling that she knew what he was trying to suggest. A really, really bad feeling.

"We're going to borrow a page from their book, babe. We're going to solve our problem with roulette," he said, loading a single bullet into the revolver. "Russian roulette." He punctuated the sentence by spinning the chambers of the revolver.

Normally, she would refuse such an idea. For some reason though, whenever she tried to think about refusing, her mind got all hazy. "Alright Benny, let's play."

He gestured at the small round table against the wall, with a chair on each side. She took a seat in the chair nearest to her. Benny placed the revolver on the table, and gave it a spin.

He took a seat on the opposite side of the table, and looked down at the revolver as it came to a stop, pointing at Kagami. She could see the relief on his face as she was forced to play first.

She mechanically reached out and picked up the gun. Without any hesitation, she aimed at her head and fired.

_Click._

That sobered her up. The gun felt very heavy in her hand all of a sudden, and she nearly dropped it onto the table trying to pass it to Benny.

"_What the hell am I doing!" _she asked herself. _"This is bad, this is really bad. I'm doing something stupid... I even promised I wouldn't..."_

_Click._

She heard Benny stifle a relieved sigh across the table, and slide the revolver back to her. She looked at it for a second before trying to reach for it.

"Feeling lucky, babe?"

She looked Benny in the eyes as she raised the revolver to her head. Suddenly, everything seemed to click into place. She'd always thought she was unlucky, given how everything had turned out back home. Now she realized, it was never a matter of luck, it was a matter of karma. While she was a bad person, nothing but bad things were happening all around her. It had all changed when she turned her life around after the incident at Adam's Air Force Base. Karma had saved her from one death from a bullet to the head. Maybe it would protect her from another.

"I'm on an 18-karat run of good luck, now that you mention it," she said with a grin.

_Click._

She started giggling. "Ever hear of karma, Benny?"

The man across from her gave her a dumb stare in reply. He must have been certain that she had lost her mind at this point.

"Good things happen to good people," she explained, her mouth curving into a wicked smirk. "Bad things," she continued as she slid the revolver across the table, "Well, they happen to bad people."

Benny picked the weapon from the table, and shakily aimed at his own head. She was getting under his skin.

Kagami gripped the sides of the table so she could lean over it. Closing the distance between them, she whispered, "What kind of person have you been, Benny?"

She could see him shaking in his seat. "What's the matter?" Not letting him reply, she pressed further, closer now. Their noses only a few inches apart, she pried, "Are you a coward, Benny?"

Snarling back at her, Benny's shaking stopped. "I'm not a coward," he growled.

_BANG._

He slumped back in his chair, and the revolver clattered to the floor. A second later, she also slumped back in her chair.

"_I did it," _she thought, "I did it!" She let out a relieved laugh as she rose to her feet. "Take that, you bastard!"

The door burst open as Konata plowed through, fire in her eyes. Her rage dissipated when she saw that her companion was still alive and well.

Kagami shakily stumbled to the bar and sat down at one of the stools. "The chip is in his coat pocket," she said to her companion, "Could you get it for me?" She sprawled herself across the bar, trying to get her pulse back in check from the earlier near-death experience.

A loud thud could be heard behind her, and she raised her head. A quiet "Oops," could be heard from Konata.

Benny's body was now sprawled out on the floor near the seat, now coat-less. She looked at Konata, who was now hat-less but one checkered coat richer, waiting for her explanation.

"It's a nice coat; I wouldn't want to let it go to waste. Also, he had this," she said, holding up a nickel-finish 9mm Pistol covered in engravings. "Haven't seen any like this one," she commented.

"If you're going to search him like that, you might as well turn the entire apartment upside-down," Kagami sarcastically quipped.

"You know what I think I will," Konata quickly replied. She wandered into the next room.

Kagami sighed and rolled her eyes. _"Sometimes I don't even know what to do with her."_

She heard Konata call out to her, somewhat muffled by the walls between them, "Hey, check this out Kagami."

Rising to her feet, she followed Konata's voice to the source. She saw Konata pointing through an open doorway.

"Did our room in Novac have one of those?"

"One of what?" Kagami asked, gaze following the shorter girl's outstretched arm.

"An ominous, secret room." She immediately made for the room in question, which was framed by a partially demolished wall that served as an entrance.

"Hey, wait a sec," Kagami started, but followed Konata anyway.

The inside of the room was red from the lights, and generally worn looking. A few computers and other machines were inside the room, along with a Securitron.

The pair froze. The Securitron bore a cartoonish smiley face, that felt somewhat creepy when compared to its surroundings. Securitrons were generally not allowed inside of the casinos, so what was this one doing in here?

* * *

A/N: I hope I didn't jump the shark with the confrontation. When it first occurred to me it seemed like a good idea, but when I wrote it, I had second thoughts. Is it too out of place? I hope it's not, because then I'd have to do something else there, and I really didn't have any other ideas.


	8. You and What Army?

A/N: Well, you know what really destroys your urges to write? A good RPG. Around the posting of the last chapter, I had finally buckled down and decided to finish Persona 3 FES, and started the epilogue (though I hear that that is a lot like the movie WarGames; the only winning move is not playing). I then started on Persona 4 immediately afterward and got sucked into that. And now a friend of mine has lent me Final Fantasy 13 (first two discs, he's not finished with the last one). I still haven't finished Bayonetta, Split/Second, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit or Mass Effect 2, and in the near future Homefront, Pokemon Black and White and Bulletstorm are coming out. Still try to play Call of Duty: Black Ops and Halo Reach every once in a while too. I have an awful feeling that this is going to grind to a halt until the next New Vegas DLC hits, simply because my list of games has really piled up for some reason.

* * *

"Hey there!" the robot nearly screamed at the pair.

"Uh... hi?" Konata replied. "Who... who are you? What are you doing here?"

"That's a great question! I'm called Yes Man!" the robot cheerfully replied. "I serve as an access point to Mr. House's network, so that encrypted data can be monitored."

"What kinda name is that? And if you're a Securitron, then why aren't you working with Mr. House?" Kagami asked.

"Benny always called me that! He had me reprogrammed!"

"He didn't do that all by himself... did he?"

"Oh no, he had some help from one of his lady friends. I don't remember her name or where she was from though, sorry!"

"Oh... alright then..." Kagami muttered.

"What is this place? Is it a secret lab?" Konata asked.

"You could say that, yeah. This served as Benny's workshop. It also serves as my entire world."

"Uh, that's... depressing..." Kagami said.

"It's no problem though!"

"Yeah, whatever," Konata interjected. "Say, have you seen this chip before?" she asked, taking the chip from the pocket of her coat.

"Sure did! Benny had me look at it a few times!"

"What's it for then? There's got to be something to it that makes it more important than a chip made out of a precious metal," Kagami asked.

"It's for data storage, kind of like a holotape, except way more complicated!"

"So if it's got data on it, then what's the data?" Konata asked, rolling the chip around in her fingers.

"I'm not too sure, but Mr. House's network makes it sound like he could use this to improve his defences in some way!"

"I take it that you've got to have some special hardware to read what's on here then," Kagami noted, also looking at the chip.

"My connections tell me there are two places to read the chip. The Lucky 38 and a facility located underground at Fortification Hill. You should probably try at that other one!"

"Wait... that still doesn't explain what Benny needed this thing for."

"Simple! He wanted to kill Mr. House, and take over the Strip by copying me onto the network in place of him! From there, I'd take control of all the Securitrons!"

The girls were dumbstruck. Konata managed to speak first, "What would you do from there?"

"I don't know! Probably whatever I'm told to do!"

"You're very... forward about all of this..." Kagami noted cautiously.

"Hey, I was programmed to be helpful and answer the questions I was asked! It seems like someone didn't think to make it specific to any one person!"

"Yeah, it would seem that way."

"That was really dumb, wasn't it? Oh well."

Looking between the chip, Yes Man and Kagami quickly, Konata got an idea. "What if..."

Narrowing her eyes at the other girl, Kagami asked, "'What if' what?"

"What if I wanted to take over myself... what would we do then..?"

Before Kagami could protest, Yes Man spoke up, "Well then I'd help you! I'd have to! Benny wouldn't like that, but it's not my fault I can't say no!"

"No Konata, we aren't doing this. We should just give the chip back to Mr. House and be done with it."

"But I want to keep our options open! We should never be stuck with our choice without learning all the possible outcomes first!"

"Exactly!" Yes Man echoed.

Looking between the robot and her companion, she finally sighed, "Fine, let's hear the plan then."

"Step one: eliminate Mr. House! Step two: install me to the mainframe! Step three! Or wait; there really isn't a step three!"

"So that's it?"

"Not quite. You're new around here, aren't you?" The pair nodded in reply. "Then you should get to know some of the groups around here, so you can decide whether you want them to stay, or go away!"

"So what... the NCR and the people running the casinos?" Konata asked.

"There's more to the plan, but we'll talk about it when we get to that point!"

"So you mean to tell us that we're supposed to go to every group around the Mojave and ask if they would support an independent Vegas?" Kagami asked dryly.

"Not at all! Who needs support? You'll have the entire Securitron army for that!"

Waving her hand at Kagami to silence her potential protests, Konata asked, "So who are these people we want to meet?"

"All the families on the Strip for a start! Then you'll want to talk to some other groups like the Boomers and the Great Khans! It's quite a long list, so I'll just let you download it from me onto your Pip Boy!"

"We should be going, Konata. I get the feeling that discussing plans like these isn't the best idea right now."

"Alright Yes Man, we'll be in touch!" Konata called back, reading over the new info on her Pip Boy.

"I'll be right here! Waiting! Always waiting!"

Leaving the apartment, Kagami voiced one last opinion. "That was creepy."

* * *

On the way out of the Tops casino, they informed Swank that Benny was dead and how Swank had become the new head of their family. He was a little shocked, but at the same time a bit eager. He agreed to let the girls back into the casino whenever they wanted without giving them trouble.

On their way to the Lucky 38 they were stopped by an NCR soldier who wanted to let them know that the NCR Ambassador on the Strip wanted to speak with them.

Returning to House, the pair offered the chip to House.

"Alright, so this is it right? Payment and general happiness for all?" Konata asked her eyes wandering around the room.

"We aren't quite finished yet. I want the two of you to go down to the basement. There's something of great importance for me to show you."

* * *

Riding the elevator to the basement, Konata leaned into Kagami and whispered, "I saw a terminal hidden under a stairwell up there. If there's a way to get to House, it's probably through there."

Nodding, the pair stepped out of the elevator and walked onto the small stage. Below them was a small pit that looked like a target course. They were shown a demonstration of the existing Securitrons, and what they would be like if they were upgraded.

Coming back to the penthouse, they were greeted by a smug sounding House. "Thanks to your help, I've upgraded all the Securitrons within range to the new system."

"So what's next then?"

Returning the chip to the girls, House explained, "There's more for you to do, but it's dangerous. I still believe in you two though."

"What do you want us to do?"

"I need the two of you to go to a place called Fortification Hill, and find my bunker located there."

"Sounds easy enough," Konata said idly.

"The Legion has made camp there."

"Or maybe not."

"So what do you want us to do there?" Kagami asked.

"There's an old derelict weather station that has a basement hatch. You'll know it when you see it. Inside is the bunker."

"Two questions," Konata said, "First: what's inside? Second: how do we open the hatch?"

"The contents of the bunker are of great importance, and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise by telling you. The hatch can be opened by using the chip as a key."

* * *

Leaving the Lucky 38, Konata noted aloud, "Either way we would be upgrading those robots, to help House or for an independent Vegas. The only question now is, should we talk to the NCR first, or save that for after our trip?"

"I think we should talk to them now. The embassy is that way, right?" Kagami asked, pointing down the Strip in the direction of the Tops casino.

"Should be all the way at the end I think."

The NCR embassy was rather small for how important they made themselves out to be, both girls noted. Everyone was polite enough though, and they were directed to the Ambassador's office.

Upon seeing the pair of girls enter, the man typing on the computer at his desk rose to his feet to greet them. "I assume you are the two that I've heard so much about. I am Ambassador Dennis Crocker." With a handshake each, each girl offered their names as well.

He was a dark skinned man of average height, with black hair. Well, the bit of hair he still had was black.

"I'm sure you know that the NCR is having some issues with the Legion and Mr. House at this point. I won't lie; we're not in a good spot. Things aren't looking too good for us, but if things go wrong, we won't take it the worst. It'll be the free people living here that will be hit hardest."

"You want our help, right? Since we're not really NCR members, we wouldn't immediately be cast away from people who you would want to work with because of our past," Kagami noted.

"Yes. Also, you wouldn't be limited the same way an NCR soldier would when it comes to solving a problem or working out a deal," Ambassador Crocker explained.

"Okay, I'm alright with that. What do you want us to do first?"

"Up north, a group called the 'Boomers' by the locals, reside on an old munitions stockpile. We could really use those munitions along with their support."

The pair exchanged a quick look with each other at the mention of the name. It was another one of the groups that they were recommended to speak with if they wanted an independent Vegas. It looked like that was always going to be an option if they played their cards right.

"So you just want us to go and make friends? That shouldn't be a problem," Konata said.

"Well, they're known for keeping to themselves. They don't exactly welcome outsiders with open arms."

Rolling her eyes, Konata said, "Why can't anything be as easy as it sounds?"

"You two are better suited for this task than anyone else I have available. Can you do this for the NCR?"

"We'll do what we can," Kagami politely replied.

As the two made to leave the office, the Ambassador stopped them. "One more thing I should mention. I heard some soldiers talking about some kind of bounty that we've apparently put out. If you're interested in that kind of work, they came from Camp McCarren, so you could ask around there about it."

"So, Boomers or Fortification Hill?" Konata asked as they began walking down the Strip

"We should go to the bunker first. I get the feeling that if the Legion finds out that we are helping the NCR out, they won't let us in easily."

"Speaking of which, how are we even going to get into their camp?"

"I guess we'll have to hope that they want us to help them too. They aren't friendly with Mr. House, but if they wanted him killed we are the only people who have been in the Lucky 38, so they don't have much choice."

"When we get back, are we going to take up those bounties? It sounds like fun work to me."

"If we get back, you mean. And I suppose we could," the taller girl sighed.

* * *

It was a short while before dawn, and the two were hiding amongst some rocks and sandbags west of a Legion camp on the Colorado River. Kagami was looking at the camp through a pair of binoculars that they had bought from a trader they ran into.

Lowering them to rub her eyes, she glanced at their makeshift first aid kits. The other purchases they made were of chems: a dose of Med-X for each of them, and then one more chem.

Kagami's other chem was a dose of Psycho, which was a strange chem to include in a first aid kit, but it had a purpose. Kagami had mistakenly taken a dose of Psycho under the impression that it was a Stimpak when they were new to the wastes, but it had served a purpose similar to Med-X. Med-X was a good painkiller, which would stop you from being bothered by pain from your injuries. Psycho on the other hand, made its user stronger and more aggressive. So much more aggressive, that it got to the point where you would stop caring about how hurt you were. It was a poor substitute, but it would manage in an emergency.

Konata's chem purchase was a dose of Jet. Jet would supercharge the user with energy, useful if they needed an adrenaline rush in a hurry. She picked it in case she needed to run away from something, since it would compliment her natural speed and athleticism. The girl could sometimes be described as hyper, so Kagami really wasn't eager to see how much more energetic the girl could get under the influence of a chem.

The girl in question was fiddling with a locked footlocker that they had found in the little hiding spot they had taken refuge in. She had spent the last few minutes trying to coax the lock into opening, but was having little success. Huffing in frustration, she decided to just force the lock, knowing full well that it was probably going to destroy it in the locked position.

To her surprise, it worked. To her greater surprise, the locker contained a lightly weathered Sniper Rifle and several empty magazines.

Looking over her shoulder at the smaller girl, Kagami quietly commented, "Lucky you. Too bad we can't use that."

"At least I can use the scope instead of trading the binoculars with you," she replied, moving up beside her partner.

"Well, I don't have any idea how many there are at this camp, but fighting our way through them is probably out of the question. Even if we managed to survive it, we would have to fight off all of them at Fortification Hill."

Standing up abruptly, Konata said, "Might as well try to lie our way to victory. If we've got to fight 'em, well then it's our loss right?"

Getting up and starting to walk toward the camp, Kagami cynically joked, "Remind me to tell you that this was your idea when we get lashed to a cross."

The two were stopped just outside the camp by a few Legion soldiers. "What business do you have here," the man spat.

Konata spoke up immediately, much more confident in her skill at lying than Kagami was. "The Caesar wishes to speak with us."

Kagami had to fight her body's desire to show her surprise when the man stepped aside and gestured for them to continue toward the camp.

Out of earshot, Konata idly commented aloud, "Well that was easy. I hope everything goes this well."

They were allowed to board and ride a boat to the Legion camp without any more questions asked. _"Maybe that lie wasn't as false as we thought,"_ Kagami said to herself. _"Did they send a messenger, like the NCR? Maybe they just never made it."_

They were questioned once again at the gate at the Legion camp. Almost exactly like the first time, the soldier asked, "What is your business?" Unlike the first soldier however, this man sounded calmer. He was a little too calm though, bordering on that chillingly cool tone of voice that was slightly intimidating.

"We're here to speak with the Caesar," Konata repeated.

The soldier nodded, and took a look at Kagami. "And you?" he asked.

"She's just my bodyguard," Konata quickly answered. The more of the charade they were making up that was created by her, the easier it would be for her to control.

Nodding again, the man waved for the gate to be opened. "You can find the Caesar in his tent on the top of the hill. However, he encourages you to look around the camp for yourself before your meeting. An uninformed decision cannot be made."

Inside the camp, Kagami moved closer to Konata. Keeping her eyes focused forward, trying to block out the images of people and corpses lashed to crosses, she muttered, "Are we actually going to talk with him?"

"I want to avoid that if possible. I really hope that same guard isn't still there when we come back. He might ask questions..."

The two located the building Mr. House had told them of as soon as they could. It was rather far from the rest of the camp; you were barely able to hear the sounds of the camp from just outside the door. No one was guarding it from the outside either.

Inside was a different story. Three soldiers turned to look at the pair as soon as they entered the room.

"What on earth are you doing here?" the one closest to the door asked. They way he asked it sounded as though he felt like he was talking to someone worth less than a normal human.

"The Caesar sent us," Kagami replied, somewhat hotly. She knew what the general belief amongst the Legion was about women, that they were stupid and useless for anything other than reproduction. She wasn't surprised to find a sexist this quickly, but she was still less than pleased about it.

With a grunt, he leaned against a workbench against one of the room's walls. Kagami wasted no time in crossing the building to go through the hatch on the other side. She disappeared beneath it without a word.

"Why aren't you with her?" the man spat at her.

"She's the expert, I'm just her bodyguard," Konata said levelly. He wasn't getting any kind of reaction from her.

"_Eh, it doesn't matter how inconsistent this lie is if they don't have the chance to talk to each other before we leave."_

Examining her new Sniper Rifle, she took a glance at the workbench the guard was leaning against. "Mind if I use that?" she muttered.

He silently moved to lean against the opposite wall. She set to work in cleaning the parts of the rifle.

She was interrupted from her work by the man who was now behind her speaking. "What I don't understand is how someone like you could be a bodyguard."

Konata didn't reply, but she stood up and stopped her work to show that she was listening.

"I mean, you're a woman, you're short, you're a woman, you look weak, and you're a woman."

"You don't have to be strong, tall or a man to use a gun you know," Konata replied, shooting a glance at the man before turning back to her work.

Reassembling the weapon, there was a series of vibrations from beneath the floor of the building. Konata slung her Sniper Rifle on her back, and readjusted the checkered coat on her shoulders. It was loose-fitting, allowing her to conceal her smaller weapons from sight, but that wasn't important here. She held her Service Rifle in her hands, but leaned back against the table to try to hide her intentions from the other guards.

Kagami emerged from the hatch shortly after the tremors. "What was that," the rude guard demanded.

Ignoring him, Kagami looked at Konata, but quickly shifted her focus to the three Legion soldiers in the room between them. "We done?" the short girl asked, sidling away from the workbench.

Kagami shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, and looked at her again. She noticed that Konata was moving around the perimeter of the room, to reduce the chances of friendly fire if they ended up in a gunfight.

"Are we... through?" Konata repeated, moving her head and arm in a subtle gesture at group in the room.

"Yeah... yeah we're finished."

As soon as the soldier that had been harassing Konata stopped looking at Kagami to send a suspicious glance at Konata, she drew her Laser Pistol. No one else was looking at her anymore, so she quickly lined up a shot and fired at him.

The pair cut down the other soldiers before they had the chance to fight back. It wasn't a fight, it was murder. Normally, the two would be against something like that, but what those men stood for? It was reason enough. _"Besides, if even half the things I've heard are true, they would be in for worse punishment anyway," _Kagami thought bitterly.

"I hope nobody comes to check out what happened after hearing that..." Konata muttered as they left the building.

As they started through the camp, they noted that no one was visibly suspicious of them. "Looks like we're making a clean getaway," Kagami quietly commented to her partner.

* * *

They weren't stopped by anyone as they left the camp or the outpost where they originally boarded the boat. That didn't stop them from sprinting as far as they could toward Novac once they were sure that they were out of sight. The detour to Novac instead of heading vaguely north until they found the highway would slow them down, but they would have a chance to relax and maybe get some ammo for Konata's new Sniper Rifle.

On the way there Konata had questioned Kagami about what exactly was in the bunker. It was pretty obvious that it was more Securitrons, why else would House demonstrate what the chip could do to them and then send them to a bunker with it? She was more interested in what Kagami had decided to do with them.

Despite the fact that she was already having second thoughts about working with Mr. House, Kagami had chosen to activate the army. It was clear to her that the extra robots would help against the Legion when they inevitably attacked again. Her view of the idea of Mr. House controlling Vegas however, had changed. It wasn't as clear to her anymore.

Mr. House was kept alive on life support, and had been that way since before the bombs dropped, according to rumors. This meant that he really wasn't a human any more, and might as well have been an AI. The last time she had worked with an AI was President Eden with the Enclave. She was not interested in repeating history, which was starting to feel guaranteed if she kept working with Mr. House.

AIs had this tendency to not care about most people, just like Mr. House didn't really care about the people living in Vegas as long as they didn't try to cause him any direct trouble. Kagami was starting to feel that the NCR would be in better form for taking over Vegas. If the approach the groups had could be compared to prewar governments, Kagami thought that the NCR would be a democracy, Mr. House would be a dictatorship, and the Legion would be a tyranny. To her, there wasn't enough difference between those last two.

She was all for a democracy, and if working with the NCR appeared to be better for everyone instead of just those in power, then that was what she was going to support. It conflicted with the idea of activating the Securitrons, because the NCR already had their own army. But who would turn down more soldiers fighting for their cause? She just hoped that they could work things out faster than rumors could spread; it would be bad if the Legion found out about how they were crossed, and Mr. House wouldn't be too happy about her working for the NCR either.

* * *

A/N: I never really considered this before, but are the rulers obnoxious? I realize now that most other writers opt for their own breaks, usually a short string of characters or something. Would that be better? It's a bit of a nuisance to go back and change existing chapters, but if it improves the performance and readability of this, then it is worth the effort.


End file.
